The angel who strayed and lost her way
by ninja-bitch
Summary: Sequal to my first Naruto fanfic! YAY! Mika's back!SasukeXOCX... well you're just gonna have to see, aren't you!R&R please!  Umm... if you haven't read the first one you're gonna be a liiiiitle bit lost! X3
1. speak of a forgotten name

**Okay peeps! This is the first chapter of my Sequal!!! YAY!!! Please check out the rest and review!!! )**

'She is powerful.' came the deep male voice from the shadows as he contemplated what one of his colleagues had been telling him, scratching his chin in the semi darkness. 'She could be of great use to our cause.' he added, closing his eyes slowly as he thought of the things they could do by enhancing the immense power which was held in the young girl.

'She is whiter than white.' came another voice from away to the first mans right, making him look up enquiringly. 'She would never consent to helping us with our-' he paused, wondering whether to repeat what the first man had said. '-"cause".' he finished, opening his eyes which were still shining red as he gazed around at the company he had chosen.

The first man closed his eyes again in displeasure, entwining his fingers in front of him as he felt the presence of the many criminals standing before him.

'I don't believe she knows the extent of her powers.' he said after a pause, still not opening his eyes while he felt one of his followers shifting slightly, tiring of doing nothing but he ignored him. 'If she did she could be very dangerous to our cause.' he continued, talking almost to himself as he opened his eyes slightly to discourage the shifty youth from getting bored.

'If she ever decides to discourage us.' came the deep voice of the youngest member, the member who had been shuffling his feet a moment ago. 'But would she? She spared Itachi.' he added, looking over at the young dark haired man standing not far from him before their leader. He smiled satisfactorily as the dark haired member glared daggers at him in distaste.

'She won't.' he answered darkly, looking back up at the man hidden in the shadows. 'Even my brother does not contemplate such idiocies, and he will discourage her.'

'And are you sure that she will not consent to helping us with what we have embarked on?' asked the first man, tiring of their meagre conversation. Itachi shook his head, sure that Mika Tikaake would never even think of helping the Akatsuki on their quest for power.


	2. back to basics

Just outside the Village Hidden in the Leaves, along an unused dirt road which lead to a dead end, through a pair of large beaten gates, in an overgrown courtyard stood a young girl with a determined look on her pretty face as her chest heaved in exhaustion. Her fists were clenched through her black Anbu gloves from whom noone really knew where she'd got, her eyes fixed on a point on the opposite wall as she screwed her face up again in pain, watching a huge pylon of fire lifting out of the ground in front of her, singing the front of her face as she closed here eyes tight against the heat.

Mika Tikaake let her arms swing back down at her sides in tiredness as the fire withered and disappeared leaving behind a small puff of smoke. She was shattered. She had been training hard ever since the day she had seen her old home for the first time since her clans death about four years previously, trying to uphold her family's honour and pride. She had found it surprisingly difficult since she had nearly killed Itachi, finding that what she couldn't repeat what she had done that day and finding that she had to start right from the beginning, the same way she had had to do with her own power which still came naturally to her.

She fell to her knees panting with the simple effort of staying upright. She looked up again at the opposite wall she had been staring at every time she came here to train, finding strength in what she could see. But this time it seemed to seep what strength was left in her, making her head flop and her chin press against her neck as her eyes screwed up against the emotion. She looked up again and took in the faded chalk outline of her beheaded brother who had been hanging on the wooden wall opposite her, his arms hanging beside him and the blood trailing from his neck down to the floor. She opened her deep hazel eyes again in time to see a transparent tear seeping down her flushed cheek and splattering lightly on the earthy ground below her.

She watched in silence as a thick root pushed itself slowly through the soil and lifted itself towards her before tenderly wiping away the dampness below the girls eye, trying to comfort her young grief. Mika knew her mother was still watching her, watching her toil with her new powers, trying to force the elements to do her bidding… and usually failing miserably. Every now and then some form of energy would do something of it's own accord, like the root wiping a tear away. It had been three weeks since she had recovered her memory, and in that time she had seen a bolt of lightening stab down from the heavens and leave a tiny heart shape on the ground in front of her, almost making her die of fright, but she understood what her brother was trying to get through to her; she had watched a sudden gust of wind blow a stray piece of newspaper towards her and after inspecting it noticing the words: "hang in there." singed onto the other side which made the tears leak from her already puffy eyes.

She looked over to the door of her old home which she knew led to the kitchen where she knew her mothers last breath had been released from her dieing body, the large saucepan still sitting on the stove as it boiled the supper which the family would never eat and which waited still for someone to eat it. Mika highly doubted anyone ever would and smiled at the thought of feeding it to Sakura who hadn't become any nicer after their ordeal.

She brushed her plum coloured hair out of her face and took a deep breath, noticing the root slowly receding back into the earth, and stood up again to face the wall with her beloved brothers last position before he was released and taken to be buried


	3. problems in paradise

Mika sighed to herself as she walked out of the woods in the direction of the Village, content at her progress which was admittedly slow, but she was getting there. She looked over at what used to be her uncles unused field and which she now used as training ground for her new powers; it now no longer looked like an unused field but like an unkempt park with a few large scorched areas dotted here and there, but on the whole it looked quite nice. A small hill had appeared on the far side of the large expanse on which a large tree had established itself, standing tall and proud as though it hadn't just appeared the day before but had been there for centuries. Mika admired her own handiwork, forgetting for a moment her bruises and burns she had received from trying to create it and remembering why she had done it: It was a memorial for her and Sasuke's families, their clans, so that none should forget what had happened. She looked forwards towards the small gates which separated her from the village and her eyes fell upon the large stone which she had placed there and had written on with help from her new control over electricity: "In remembrance of The Tikaake and Uchiha clans who fell at the hands of a traitor." and below all the names of the members of the two clans.

She noticed the jagged movements of the letters where she had tried to force the bolt of lightning to do her bidding nicely, and found it surprisingly difficult. Three weeks ago, when she had realised she had all these powers, she had thought that the most powerful would be the most difficult to master and so she had started working out how to control the earth element first, but she had found that that one was one of the easiest and had moved on to the next. Out of all the powers she had been given she found that she had most trouble with electricity, finding that the bolt which struck down in front of her was very reluctant to follow her commands, instead opting for a different route which usually involved making Mika run around for her life or throwing herself under a tree or something.

Now she had more control over it and she could laugh at her near death experiences, but at the time she was sure it was Yama continuing to tease her even after he had gone and it had infuriated her no end.

She looked up at the gates and sure enough there he was, waiting for her as he leaned against the wall inspecting his shoes uninterestedly. Mika smiled as she watched him sigh in boredom, looking back into the village as she grinned at him, speeding up a little to get to him faster.

'Sasuke!' she cried out, the stupid grin still stuck to her lips. As he heard her he looked over in her direction expectantly, his dark hair flicking at his face as he jerked it towards her, a smile creeping across his lips. Mika felt herself blush as he walked towards her, his handsome face pulled in an affectionate smile which gave the young girl butterflies. 'Did you have to wait long?' she asked suddenly aware of how tired she was and how dark it had got.

'About an hour.' he said without a second thought still smiling at her. 'I wanted to come and get you but-'

'Don't come and get me cos I might accidentally electrocute you.' she said, a worried look taking over her expressions as she looked up at him. They started walking back inside the Village, taking a left up a deserted street, the lights flickered on around them.

'I was about to say that.' he answered smiling down at her tenderly. 'If you'd given me time to finish.' she blushed, making his heart flutter a little making him look away awkwardly. 'So how are things?' he asked, looking back over at her as they took a right and ignoring the barking dog which lived in that particular house.

'Well, I'm getting better at the grassy thing.' she told him, counting it off on her left index finger. 'And I'm sure I've pretty much got the fire one, and the air is definitely getting easier.' she continued ticking them off on her fingers as she said them. 'And of course mine which I already knew, and I think earth is coming.' there was a pause, she knew he was waiting for news on the last element with which she'd been having trouble. She sighed miserably. 'But I'm still having trouble with Yama's thing.' she finished on an out breath, trying to ignore how much she was aching.

As she watched her feet slowly stepping one in front of the other she felt a warm finger brush up against hers making her glance over at them, seeing Sasuke's hand reaching over to hers hesitantly, a beetroot glow shining on his cheeks and a coy smile on his lips as he wondered how it had come about. She mirrored his blush and the embarrassed smile before looking away, loving the intimacy and yet wishing it was more.

Since she had recovered her memory and the intense emotions of that time had worn off she and Sasuke had been slowly drifting further and further apart. Training had pulled Mika away from team seven which had continued to train on their missions, while Mika stayed behind and tried to wield her new powers without breaking anything. The only time the two young shinobi had had together were in the evenings, when Sasuke would wait for Mika at the gates to the village and then walk her home, sometimes stopping to get a ramen take-away or something and eating it on their way.

She wished she could do more, she wished she could be with him more, but she knew that she had to get her powers under control or put the whole village in jeopardy if things got out of hand which happened on occasions, but since she was in the middle of the woods she didn't do too much damage. She knew that he wished they could see more of each other, but he knew that she needed to train and he wouldn't stop on his quest to defeat his brother. She would never let herself get in his way.

'Would you like to… you know.' she started hesitantly, feeling the colour rush to her cheeks again as she stared firmly ahead of her. 'do something some time?' she continued, still not meeting his gaze as he watched her calmly, their two hands entwined together. 'Like a… umm, well a date, I guess…' she finished, trailing off uncomfortably as she dropped her gaze to her feet slowly stepping one in front of the other.

'I thought we were past the whole "date" stage.' he said quietly with a sort of uncertain laugh in his tone. She could feel the burning of her blush on her beetroot cheeks, she knew he was probably still watching her and waiting for an answer. 'I… I wanted to talk to you about that…'

Mika closed her eyes. She had dreaded this moment although she knew it was inevitable; he was going to tell her it wasn't working, he was going to tell her he'd had enough. She could feel the tears which had snuck up in the back of her eyes, waiting for a decent excuse to spill over and down her burning cheeks, so she closed her deep hazel eyes, trying to shut out the truth.

'I- You…' Sasuke started awkwardly before clearing his throat quietly, trying to say what was on his mind. 'Do you want to finish this?' he said after taking a deep breath, he was looking at her now as he tried to see what she was thinking but she was determined not to look at him. 'Mika.' he pressed, stopping and pulling her towards him so that she was facing him directly, but she still looked over at the ground to her left, away to the dark eyed boys right. 'I know I don't, but this doesn't seem to be going very well… I've never been in a rel-' he stopped himself, blushing at the idea of him being in a relationship.

'I don't want to finish it.' piped up the girl still trying to hold back the tears, relieved though she was that he wasn't breaking up with her. 'But… we're hardly ever together, and- and I don't know what to do… I- maybe we could…' she trailed off, not knowing what they could do.

'Have you been with someone before me?' he asked quietly, as he did so Mika felt his gentle grip on her fingers loosen a little making her even more nervous than she already was. 'I don't think it's supposed to be like this… Was it when you were with… What was his name again?'

'Umm, Nekura.' she answered uncertainly, looking over at Sasuke as they continued on their journey back to her place. She knew he was trying to ignore what their relationship could have consisted of, and she wasn't about to tell him: he had guessed enough. 'It- it wasn't really like this…' she said as quietly as she could, hoping he might not hear her.

'What did you do?' came his voice almost as quietly as hers and she guessed he was looking away. His fingers loosened again around hers so she clung on tighter, trying not to let them slip from her grip.

'Umm… we…' she paused. She'd have to think about what they did without telling him too much which she knew he didn't want to know. 'We spent a lot of time together… we were on the same squad so that was easy… umm… we talked a lot… we… well we…'

'Kissed. You can say it.' came Sasuke's voice again and this time it was quite harsh, loud in the silence around them as Mika looked over at him with a nervous apologetic expression but he was staring into the darkness on his other side, away from Mika.

'Here we are.' said Mika, noticing the large building where she lived in a tiny little flat with her new cat: Surplus Nev. Sasuke looked up briefly before looking back down at the dark undergrowth, a moody frown across his forehead. 'Do you want to come up?' she asked, wondering whether this sounded too banal. She watched him shake his head, his dark hair ruffling softly with the movement and his fingers slip between hers.

'Same time tomorrow?' he asked without looking at her, she could feel the tears about to fall down her cheeks but she forced them to stay in a moment longer even though he wouldn't have seen them anyway. She mumbled a "yes" and he started walking away, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders hunched sullenly. She wanted to call after him. She wanted to run after him and throw her arms around his shoulders, feeling his strong body against hers, smelling his faint scent which she adored.

But she didn't. She stood in silence, watching him slowly walk away and feeling that this moment felt a lot deeper than it probably was. When she could no longer see him she turned around slowly, heading in through the doors where the paint was peeling off gradually, revealing the dirty wood beneath.


	4. naughty midnight surprise

Mika woke up suddenly, certain that she had heard a soft knock at her bedroom door. She looked over at the door in question, wondering whether she had been dreaming, but there came another knock which made her pull the bedclothes up to her chin, her expression worried as she called out nervously.

'Come in…' she watched as the dark green door slowly opened, creaking a little, to reveal Sasuke standing in silence just watching her steadily. 'Sasuke?' she asked, frowning slightly at him. 'What are you doing here? How did you get in?'

'The door was open.' he answered, walking slowly forwards getting closer and closer to her bed. 'You don't mind, do you?' She shook her head, noticing his rather blank expression as a small smile crept onto his handsome lips. He stopped about a yard before he reached her bed, still watching her intently but not saying anything more. As she watched him, uncomfortably aware that she had nothing to say to him, he suddenly grasped the bottom of his dark t-shirt and pulled it up and over his head, making the young girls eyes widen in shock.

He dropped it silently as he continued towards her bed, before climbing on elegantly as she felt the mattress ease slightly in his direction. Her breath was coming in short gasps and her hands were trembling as she watched the shirtless boy crawl slowly towards her, lust in his handsome eyes while he took her in.

'Sasuke, what are you doing?' she asked finally as he sat back on his ankles, his knees touching her toes at the end of her bent legs. 'Since when do you-'

'Are you complaining?' he asked still smiling alluringly, a playful eyebrow raised as she shook her head a little, a miniscule smile sneaking it's way onto her features.

He leaned forwards and pressed his soft lips against hers, feeling her swiftly melt into him, making him smile and kiss her harder. She lifted her arms up and wrapped them around his bare neck, taking in the delicious feeling of his skin and his familiar smell which she loved. She felt him pull away gently, making her whimper piteously, and watched through droopy eyelids as he slid his shorts off and chucked them ungraciously over his shoulder and onto her floor. She moved forwards onto her knees and leant towards him as he placed his warm hands on her hips and their lips were united again, her arms outstretched as her elbows leaned on his shoulders and both their eyes closed. She felt as his lips slowly parted, tweezing hers along with his before he softly passed his affectionate tongue over her lips, inviting her to follow his lead which she did. Their tongues moved together in an intimate twist as she felt Sasuke's loving fingers move up and down her back, moving gradually further and further down in the direction of her bottom. She felt him push her gently back so that she was leaning up against the wall at the top of her bed and then snapped her eyes open as she felt him nudging his way between her legs, delicately prising hers open. She pulled away and looked at him with innocent shock, silently asking what he was doing.

'Don't you want to?' he asked, an anxious look on his handsome face as he leaned back, sitting on his ankles again. 'I just thought that this might make our…' he paused, psyching himself up to say the dreaded word. '…relationship a bit better.' Mika blinked nervously as she continued to gaze over at him, unsure of what she wanted.

'I've never done this before.' she whispered apprehensively, feeling her features mould themselves around her emotion. She watched as he smiled kindly at her, giving her a strange sense of security which she had never felt before.

'Me neither.' he admitted, shrugging a little as a tiny blush crept onto his cheeks, the first since he had come in. There was a pause. Mika didn't know what was going to happen, were they just going to forget about this and go on the way they had been? She didn't think she could possibly go back to that; not after tonight, that was for sure. She knew she wouldn't be able to, and she doubted he would either. 'Do you trust me, Mika?' he asked, looking deep into her dark hazel eyes which could have been mistaken for black except that the lighter bits were so stunning.

He was leaning forwards again, inching gradually closer to her, their faces were almost touching when he stopped. She nodded uncertainly and he leaned forwards to brush his lips over hers. She let herself lie back as he lifted himself above her, his fingers prising between her pelvis and her sleeping shorts, the elastic in the waistband twisting delicately around itself as he progressively pulled the fabric down. She could feel the soft skin of his fingers slowly heading further and further down, his tongue still massaging hers as both their breathing became heavy, coming in short hesitant gasps as though they weren't sure whether they were still allowed to breathe. He pulled her shorts elegantly off her feet and let them tumble down the side of the bed to land in a heap not far from his shirt, and started pulling his boxers down apprehensively. She could feel the fabric gradually receding along her leg and before long it was gone completely, leaving the skin of their thighs to rub deliciously together. She looked down at their legs nervously but she felt his slightly clammy hand on the lower right side of her face, gently leading her to look straight into his deep, steely blue eyes.

'Do you trust me?' he asked again and this time it was clear that he was almost as nervous as she was, his eyes darting from her left to her right, the same as hers. She tilted her head up and placed her trembling lips on his, feeling the hand which had been lifting her face slip down her arm and slide beneath the small of her back, lifting her a little.

Suddenly there was a loud crash, forcing Mika to snap her eyes open again. Sasuke wasn't there. Neither were any of the clothes he had taken off of himself, and her pyjama shorts were still firmly around her waist. She groaned miserably when she saw that Surplus had knocked over her jug which had contained water, which was now all over the floor; the cat looked sheepish in the corner, one of its ears drooping with all the water which had landed on it.

Mika sighed unhappily as she lay back down again, taking in her surroundings. Her room was as it should be: the bedside table with a clock and a couple of photos including the one she had taken from her late brothers bedroom of the two sibling when she was very young, one of her and Sasuke they had taken before she had realised who she was, and one of her entire family. The cupboard was where it should be in the right hand corner of the room and the door was still firmly closed directly opposite her.

'It was all a dream.' she said to Surplus as he hopped onto her lap and preceded to start cleaning himself, rubbing his droopy and wet ear to try and dry it off. 'It was all just a dumb dream.' she repeated, settling back down in the downy pillow and deciding she would clean up the spilt water the next day. 'I hate dreams. They pretend things aren't the way they are.' Surplus purred quietly from his position on her lap.


	5. nasty discovery

The next morning, after having spent hours lying awake after her rather disturbing dream, she had made her mind up. She was going to have to take things into her own hands. She decided not to go back to her clans hamlet to train, instead she was going to practise the Tikaake dance which she had said she would perform for her closest friends in a few days. She knew she'd have no trouble remembering it because she was a true Tikaake and thus it was in her blood.

She was the only Tikaake.

She put down the jug of water she'd been cleaning and looked out of the window wistfully, the memory that she was alone slowly washing over her and filling her mind with dread. Surplus curled himself around her legs purring softly before letting out a quiet mew, bringing her back to reality.

'I'm not alone.' she told herself firmly, going back to her scrubbing with a defiant look on her pretty face, as though it was the jugs fault. She put it away in the empty looking cupboard and closed the door, turning to go back to the side of the tiny flat which held her bed, grabbing her forehead protector as she did so. She sighed to herself as she tied it around her head, watching her reflection in the cracked mirror beside her bedside table, a photo of Sasuke and her when they were young stuck to the corner with sticky tape. She sighed again and headed for the door.

…

She walked slowly along the street, heading towards the training area she knew Team seven would be working in that day and trying not to make too much noise: she didn't want Sasuke to know she was stalking him. She arrived soon enough and, as she had expected, there were the four shinobi standing on the opposite side of the field, clearly deep in conversation.

Quite suddenly all three of the genin leapt up and disappeared into thin air, the way shinobi often do **(Like in the anime show!!) **leaving Kakashi standing alone. She stepped forwards and noticed that the older man was already gazing at her silently from his position. She waved uncertainly and started to make her way over to him, watching as he made his way uninterestedly towards her. They met in the centre of the field, both pairs of eyes boring into each others, searching for a clue to what they were thinking.

'Hello.' said Mika after a moment, smiling politely at the jonin who continued to gaze down at her silently. 'What are you teaching them today?' she asked, trying to find a decent subject of conversation.

'That's not important.' he answered bluntly, throwing Mika slightly off guard and wiping the tentative smile off of her young face. 'How is your training coming?' he asked, turning the tables in a single abrupt motion. 'Have you got control over your new… talents?' he finished, taking a moment to find the right word.

'Yes.' replied the young brown eyed girl, a defiant frown creeping discreetly across her forehead. The man raised his eyebrow (he might have been raising them both but Mika could only see one) in a sort of tell-me-the-truth kind of look which parents often use on their children. 'What's wrong?' she asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at him and turning her head a little to the left, distrustfully.

'You know you're a danger to yourself and this Village, don't you?' he said blankly, still watching her steadily. Mika didn't answer; of course she knew that but she'd been training hard for three weeks and now had sufficient control over most of the powers. 'I have a message for you from the Hokage.' he said after a pause. Mika continued to glower at him in silence. 'He wants to speak with you about these new talents of yours.'

'When?' she asked coldly, she didn't know what had got into the man who had been so nice to her before, and she didn't like it. 'I'm busy.'

'Not busy enough.' he answered immediately, ignoring her furious glare. 'He wants to see you this afternoon.' he continued, his eyes boring into hers making her feel as though he was x-raying her and seeing straight through her.

'Kakashi, what's wrong?' she asked again, this time the suspicious look evaporated and was replaced by an anxious expression on her young face. She watched curiously as the handsome man's face slowly fell and he gazed down at the grass below their feet, a butterfly fluttered between them and his eyes followed it's jerky progress. 'Kakashi sensei?'

'I'm not your sensei.' he answered, but his tone was sad and a little regretful. 'You have no need for a sensei. Noone can teach you what you must learn.' he added turning his eyes back to her anxious face. 'The Hokage wants to test your control over these new powers of yours and he asked me to fight against you to try and evaluate your skills.' he told her, sighing heavily as he did so. The girl with the plum coloured hair felt her deep hazel eyes widen in fear and shock at this piece of news, hoping against hope that he had declined. 'Calm down, Mika.' he said soothingly, clearly having noticed her nervous look. 'I didn't accept, but I'm worried about who will be set up against you.'

'Do you know what sort of level they might be?' she asked uncertainly, the prospect of fighting someone of Kakashi's calibre making her feel quite light headed.

'I think they will probably put you against a chuunin or possibly a jonin, but I can't be sure.' he answered shrugging slightly his gaze still fixated on her nervous face. 'He only asked me because he knew I would go easy on you.' He watched as the girl looked up at him enquiringly, wondering why he didn't just do it and go easy on her. 'I didn't want to fight against you because I don't want to lose against one of my former students.' he finished, smiling at her from above his mask making the thirteen year old girl blush a fine shade of beetroot.

'I… err…' she stuttered, scratching her upper left arm uncomfortably as her blush increased.

'Don't worry Mika,' interrupted Kakashi letting the uncomfortable girl get away with not answering. 'I know how powerful the Tikaake clan was when they were at their peak.' Her face became sober as she realised that they were at their peak when they were wiped out, 'And now that all the powers are reunited in a single being, they'll be all the more formidable.' he paused, watching the girl who was now looking at the ground somewhere behind the jonins feet. 'Despite not being completely mastered.'

'Thank you, Kakashi sensei.' she answered quietly after a moment of silence during which she took in the depth of his kind words. 'And I will always consider you my sensei.' she finished, smiling up at him affectionately as he reciprocated back down at her. She turned away slowly heading back the way she had come as she wracked her brains as to where Sasuke might have disappeared to.

'Oh! and Mika.' came the jonins voice from behind her. She stopped and looked around curiously, seeing him standing with his back to her on hand clasping his book and the other in the air in a friendly gesture but still looking straight in front of him. 'Sasuke's in the forest searching for a specific location which I gave to him. He doesn't realise it yet but it's a location which means a lot to the two of you.'

Mika frowned to herself as she watched the man letting his hand fall to his side and tucking it into his pocket before walking off unenthusiastically. Where did he mean? There were lots of places which meant a lot to her; her old home, the waterfall, the open area where they had discovered the dark red bouncy things together, the place where they had first kissed, the small area not far from her home where they used to play with stolen kunai knives, etc…

'But you didn't hear it from my lips.' came his low voice again, snapping her back to reality where she found him standing on the other side of the field looking back at her with a smile on his handsome face. (**or what we can see of it!! **)

Lips? Why did he say "lips"? Why didn't he just say "me"? There was more to it than just a sentence. She smiled uncertainly as she guessed it was the place where Sasuke and her had first kissed as nervous children, not sure of what was going on at the time but too stubborn to miss the opportunity. She blushed crimson. Did he know? Had he seen them? But the jonin had disappeared, leaving the apprehensive teenager to disappear off in the direction of that area which indeed was so special to her.


	6. trial and error

Sasuke ran through the trees, following the instructions his sensei had given him and wondering what he was going to find there. The letter he had received at the beginning of the day had said that something close to his heart would be waiting for him there, but he doubted the closest thing to his heart would be there. She was too busy training with her new powers. He didn't stop to take in his surroundings, instead just following the clues which had been left hidden all around the village for him to find all with two large letters written on the front so that he didn't pick up the wrong envelope: S.U.

He ground to a halt as he came up against what looked like a wall of greenery, the splatterings of golden light which filtered down from the canopy making various leaves shimmer a sort of greeny gold. He drew a kunai knife and automatically started slashing at the foliage, which fell to his feet elegantly like torn pieces of leafy fabric, not taking the time to recognise the familiar surroundings. He bent over a little as he scurried along the low-ceilinged passage, getting a distinct feeling of deja-vu but pushing it to the back of his mind as he saw a small ray of light slinking its way through whatever was in the way of the exit and shining down onto the dark earth at his feet.

He brushed the curtain of leaves out of his way slowly, he couldn't shake the idea that maybe this place was more than just deja-vu, he blinked as he stood up straight in the bright sunlight. When his eyes had adjusted to the bright sunlight he looked around and saw the place where him and Mika had first kissed all those years ago, nervous and uncertain of what they wanted but too stubborn to pass the moment by. He looked around in silence, taking in the familiar surroundings and feeling a miserable smile crawl onto his lips. The golden grass which was still about knee height as it waved elegantly around in the breeze, the butterflies taking flight as they noticed the intruder, the babbling stream which ran through a small pond with the weeping willow hanging it's vines lazily over the water and casting shimmering ripples and reflections across the glassy surface, and the tyre swing, gently swaying over the edge of the water and…

As he took in the tyre swing which was still hanging lazily above the water, he noticed something else hanging lazily from the tyre, dragging gracefully through the glistening surface. A naked foot was moving in a neat eight figure across the top of the water, leaving it's mark on the calm surface, but the foot itself was attached to a small leg which was sitting silently in the tyre. The owner of the leg had placed their head on their arms which were crossed on the top of the dark piece of rubber as though they were sleeping with one foot in the water and their long plum coloured hair trailing down across their face elegantly.

Sasuke wondered how Kakashi had managed to get the person closest to his heart here, how he had dragged her away from her training and… how he knew about this place… The young boy gazed at the girl who seemed to be asleep on the tyre, swinging back and forth unenthusiastically over the water, her long hair falling down over her arms and along her back, the colourful butterflies fluttering around her giving the illusion that she herself was sparkling in the beautiful surroundings which, in Sasuke's mind, couldn't compete with her own modest exquisiteness.

He could feel the tears welling up behind his eyes as he watched her, gazing at her shape simply sitting there in the tyre, completely oblivious that he was there. He swallowed them back, trying to hide the nostalgia which had gripped him firmly by the throat and was now not letting him swallow properly. As he started walking towards her the butterflies took flight again en-masse, making the sunlight bounce off of their colourful wings and shimmer across the girl, making her look up and see him walking slowly towards her.

There was a gentle gust of wind which made the girls long plum coloured hair flow gracefully over her face as a cute blush swept over her cheeks, followed by a tentative smile. Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes, and yet there she was sitting on the tyre watching him walking slowly towards her, smiling sweetly. She got up out of the tyre and pushed her fringe out of her eyes, holding it out of the way as the breeze continued to brush over them almost tenderly. He didn't know what to say, he didn't know what to do, so he just continued to walk slowly towards her, a small uncertain smile playing on his lips.

They were now about a foot away from each other, both blushing and smiling uncertainly as they gazed into each others dark eyes; steely blue into deep hazel. He wanted to touch her, he wanted to feel the silky feeling of her fingers against the palm of his hand, he wanted to smell her sweet scent, he wanted to kiss her, but something was holding him back.

'How did you-' he started, uncertain of which question to ask first. 'Aren't you training? Don't you have to work on the electricity thing?' he asked finally, breaking the intimate silence which had previously reigned around them.

'You are more important to me than power.' she answered after a moment, the blush on her cheeks intensifying as she did so. He mirrored the burning red colour on his own cheeks and scratched the back of his neck with his right hand awkwardly.

'But couldn't you destroy-' he started but she cut across, a bored look on her face.

'Aren't you pleased to see me?' she asked looking a bit hurt, her deep hazel eyes boring into his. There was a pause while he tried to find a decent answer; of course he was happy to see her, he was thrilled, but her new powers were very strong and unpredictable. 'You know, sometimes it's best not to ask questions.' she added turning around and starting back towards the tyre which was now spinning slowly on itself.

Before she got too far he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him, quickly wrapping his arms around her upper back and pressing her lips against his, the colour in his cheeks suddenly burning painfully. He felt her jerk a little as her knees buckled but he rearranged his arms discreetly so that he could support her small body, he felt her hands making their way hesitantly up his chest and behind his neck. He felt her fingers tentatively pass through his dark hair, making the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stand on end beneath her hands, a delicious tingle rushing up his backbone. They broke apart for a moment and looked into each others face, taking in every single detail of their adored features: Mika's deep hazel eyes unlike anyone else's, Sasuke's thin lips slightly parted as he panted a little, a strand of Mika's plum coloured hair falling across her face, Sasuke's soft dark eyes which were darting across the girls face before both pairs of eyes met in an intimate moment. They leaned in again as their lips parted slightly before touching delicately in a hesitant kiss before they both pushed a little harder, pressing their mouths up against each others again. Sasuke's lips opened slightly to let his warm tongue out and pass over Mika's lips which parted as her tongue met his uncertainly, they moved together in an exquisite twisting motion, winding and unwinding around each other.

Sasuke smiled as he heard Mika let out a small moan of pleasure, feeling her push herself forwards a little harder and inviting him to reciprocate which he did. They kissed passionately in the dappled sunlight shining down through the canopy, the sound of the gently flowing stream the only sound they could hear other than their fast breathing. Suddenly his foot slipped on a conveniently placed stone and he fell down on his back in the long golden grass, feeling the slight slope as he watched Mika lower herself to her knees, beaming down at him as he blushed uncomfortably trying to sit up again but she gently pushed him down again into a lying position. She stroked a strand of his dark hair out of his eyes and leant over him, delicately placing her affectionate lips on his again, her eyes closed as pieces of her long hair fell onto his chest. She had her left hand beside his right shoulder and her right hand was holding her up beneath her and beside Sasuke's left ear, her knees were gently pressing against his left thigh as she lay down gently, placing her chest on his carefully.

Suddenly he felt her lifting herself up and putting her left leg over his pelvis so that she was sitting just below his navel, giving him a strange feeling and making his muscles clench awkwardly below her. She was still kissing him, but she had taken hold of his shirt now and was slowly lifting it up towards his head, revealing his bare chest. He sat up quickly, pulling his shirt back down and looking at her in shocked surprise; she released his shirt and sat back, still pressing on his groin making him feel very self-conscious, but her expression was nervous.

'Mika, what are you doing?' he asked incredulously, a disbelieving frown on his handsome forehead. He watched as her lips moved quickly as though she was trying to say something but nothing was coming out. 'Mika, we're thirteen.' he continued, putting his hands on her upper arms as her mouth stopped moving and a look of utter horror took over her sweet face.

'But-' she whimpered looking down at the grass by her right knee, she shuffled uncomfortably and Sasuke felt that familiar feeling he had first encountered that night after Mika had first performed the Tikaake dance… and she could feel it too. She looked back at him with a naughty expression, her left eyebrow raised at him provocatively. 'I _know_ you want this too.' she told him, her voice suddenly thick and sultry as she tried to convince him.

'Mika-' he started but she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him towards her so that their noses were almost touching.

'Listen Sasuke,' she said in a soft growl of frustration. 'I don't know if you've noticed or not, but this isn't going anywhere and I don't like it.' she told him, frowning slightly as his eyes widened a little, his incredulous frown still creasing his forehead. 'Here we have an opportunity to move forwards a bit, and you're just going to throw it away?'

'We're thirteen, Mika!' he repeated forcefully, pulling her hands off of his shirt. 'I know you thought you were fifteen, but you're not. And I don't think this is a good idea.' The girl stood up, throwing his hands off of her thighs where they had been resting after having pulled hers off his shirt collar. She glared down at him furiously, her hands balled into fists and her chest heaving in frustration as Sasuke got to his feet, his expression firm.

'You're so…' she started furiously but she stopped, still glaring at him. 'You're so… you're too… I-' she paused. Sasuke noticed her expression softening slightly as she tried to express herself, he could have sworn he could see tears slowly brimming in her deep hazel eyes. He hated himself for making her cry, but he would stand by his convictions because he knew this one at least was right. 'Most guys would have just-' she tried to say, but by this time the tears were constricting her throat. 'You're too honourable.' she shouted finally, the tears rolling freely down her flushed cheeks. They stood for a moment just looking at each other; Mika's flushed cheeks and wet eyes, Sasuke's set expression and pitying eyes; before she turned on her heel and ran back out of their tiny clearing through the passage Sasuke had come through earlier, leaving him alone.

He let the muscles in his face relax as he gazed down at the grassy ground, hating himself for what he had just done and yet feeling strangely proud of himself. He was too honourable. He went over what she had said in his mind, "most guys would have just-" so he wasn't like most guys. He wondered where they stood now. Whether Mika would forgive him. She had to, it wasn't right: they were too young. Maybe they weren't? Maybe he should have just done what she had wanted just to make her happy. Did he do the right thing? Should he apologize and just bite his tongue?

'Great now I'm questioning myself.' he said viciously, frowning again as he started towards the passage Mika had just disappeared out of, wondering vaguely whether he should have followed her.


	7. the little voice

Mika walked resolutely in the direction of where she knew the Hokage was waiting for her, her face determined despite the tear marks still visible on her cheeks. She ran up the stone steps, taking two at a time and stood in front of the wooden door which had been painted white and knocked three times with her hand shaking. She heard the quiet yet firm voice calling her in and she pushed the door open before stepping inside, into the cool room. There was a table to her right where the Hokage was sat with another shinobi she didn't recognise and a wooden chair at the opposite end of the room. The Hokage indicated the centre of the room with a single lazy hand motion, Mika walked to the middle of the space and stood facing the large table.

'Tikaake Mika.' came the deep, firm voice from underneath the large white and red hat. Mika made a small noise of agreement and stayed silent. The man beside the Hokage was taking frenetic notes on a notepad while every now and then glancing up at her and giving her flashes of friendly smiles. 'You are getting on well with your training, aren't you?' came the deep voice again as the hat lifted and she was able to see the old man beneath the fringe of white.

'Yes.' she answered shyly, her hands behind her back in a position of submission. The friendly man beside the leader of the village smiled at her reassuringly before taking more notes.

'You are the last of your clan, aren't you?' he said, although she knew perfectly well that he was perfectly aware of her situation. She stayed silent. 'You are in the same situation as Uchiha Sasuke.' he continued, looking back down at the notes the shinobi beside him had just taken and nodded silently. There was a long pause during which the two men had a short, whispered conversation while Mika stood in silence, watching their movements. 'I hear you are having a little party in a couple of days.' said the withered man turning his gaze back to the young girl.

'Uhh, yes I have invited all my closest friends and friends of my late family to come and see me perform the Tikaake dance.' she answered quickly, wondering why he was asking her this. 'It's quite difficult to invite the friends of my family because I was so young when-' she stopped abruptly, her eyes fell to the floor between the table and herself.

'Indeed.' came the deep male voice, this time it seemed a little kinder than it had previously. 'I am sorry for your loss.' he added making the girl look up in surprise to see him smiling over at her compassionately.

'Yeah.' she answered her eyes falling back down to the floor. 'Me too.'

'I hope you won't mind me asking you for a demonstration of your talents.' he said after a short pause. Mika nodded without looking up. 'Shall we say, tomorrow early afternoon?' he added and this time Mika heard the question mark, inviting her to agree. She looked up and nodded in silence, watching the two men gazing at her kindly, no longer taking notes and no longer whispering. 'You will be fighting against two chuunin.' he told her, smiling reassuringly over at her as she shuffled her feet nervously. 'Would you like to know who they are?' he asked quietly, his tone amicable. She nodded silently, nerves already clenching her stomach as the Hokage looked over at the ninja beside him.

'You'll be up against Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu.' said the man sitting beside the Hokage, glancing down at his notes again before looking back up at her amicably.

'Thank you.' said Mika quietly, surprised that she could still breathe let alone speak. The Hokage nodded and she headed for the door glancing back over her shoulder as she slipped out and saw them shaking their head sombrely.

…

The next afternoon came a lot faster than the young girl was expecting, sneaking up on her before she had even had time to practice and cutting off both her need for food _and_ her will to live. She just managed to feed Surplus before she had to run to the loo and throw up violently. She wanted to see Sasuke again but she was so agonisingly embarrassed about her actions the day before she didn't dare go out in the street in case she accidentally bumped into him. She didn't know what was going to happen between them, whether this was the end or whether he could forgive her and pretend it never happened. She knew she had to apologize but she couldn't face talking to him right now, not just before the biggest battle since the chuunin exam a year or so before… she didn't count the battle against Itachi because that was when she got her memory back.

She decided to go for a walk to try and calm her nerves which were screaming at her to go and hide beneath something in a dark corner somewhere. She still had about an hour before she had to be at the designated area, which just happened to be the same place where she had fought Rock Lee some three weeks ago and lost, so she decided to go there and get the feel of it, checking her new "talents" as the Hokage had called them. On her way there she passed several friendly faces who all waved and wished her luck, not stopping to chat which was fine for Mika who found that her voice box seemed to have seized up again.

'Hey Mika!' came Naruto's voice as their paths crossed briefly while he was on his way to get a take-away ramen. 'Good luck! Knock 'em dead!' he added enthusiastically making a punching motion in her direction and grinning reassuringly. Mika waved gratefully and continued on her journey, smiling at various other friendly faces.

As she neared the place she was heading she saw a dark haired figure leaning on the large door frame which led inside, his moody face looking straight ahead of him and away to Mika's left as she drew slowly nearer. She took a deep calming breath and bit the bullet. She might as well talk to Sasuke now and get it over with rather than dragging her agony out until after the fight, at least this way if he told her he wanted to finish it she could just let her foes destroy her, and if not she would have even more reason to survive! When she was about three yards away, walking purposefully towards the large stone entrance with her hands shaking uncontrollably, he noticed her and his handsome yet moody face broke into a wide smile which surprised the brown eyed girl, throwing her into confusion but she returned the smile with a small blush.

'I knew you'd come a bit early to check out the conditions.' he said, still smiling at her as she reached him. She blushed as she remembered why she had to talk to him, but he denied her the chance. 'Listen, Mika, about yesterday. I just want you to know that I stand by what I said and I think you were wrong but I realised something last night.' He said happily, his usually dark mood seemed suddenly light and happy, the way it had been before the incident with their clans; Mika gazed up at him curiously, wondering what on earth made him so happy. 'I love you, and I don't care what you are or what you've done. I will always love you no matter what you do, because you are what attaches me to a life when I was happy, therefore you make me happy.' Mika looked up at him in bewilderment, joy and utter bliss slowly coursing up and down her nervous body in the silence which had fallen between them as he continued to grin down at her, most unlike himself. 'Not that you don't make me happy, you do make me happy… that's what I'm saying… uhh-'

'Sasuke, I-' she cut across him tentatively, seeing his anxious distress. 'Thank you…' she said quietly, not knowing what else to say: her voice box was being decidedly unhelpful.

She smiled up at him uncertainly, watching his grin sneak back onto his lips again making her grin sheepishly back up at him. He leaned forwards, closing his eyes as he came closer and closer, his lips slightly open…

'I love you too Sasuke.' she blurted out just before his lips came into contact with hers, her deep hazel eyes wide in surprise at what she had just forced past her own lips. It was true, of course, but she was just surprised that she had been able to say anything, let alone that! She watched him smile again, his deep blue eyes darting from her left eye to her right before he closed them again and finally placed his trembling lips on hers, letting her know that he had been just as nervous as she was if not more. Their lips brushed against each others, barely touching and yet possibly more intimately than ever before.

Suddenly from inside the auditorium they heard cheers and a burst of sound which they had been unaware of previously and which now reminded Mika with painful accuracy of her task ahead. The young girl pulled away with sheer terror in her dark eyes and looked at Sasuke imploringly while he glanced over his shoulder to see where the noise was coming from.

'Please tell me it's not time…' whimpered the young girl beseeching him, but after he glanced up at the clock on the wall he looked back down at her and nodded his head apologetically, the grin gone and an apprehensive look on his face. She groaned.

'You're gonna be fine.' he assured her, putting his arms around her shoulders and pulling her to his chest, feeling her small frame press up against his as she searched for reassurance. 'I know you will.' he added, pressing her to him a little harder. He felt her give a tiny nod, the side of her face rubbing against his dark t-shirt.

She pulled away and looked up at him, terror etched across her flushed face, before looking inside the large stadium again agonisingly aware of the danger she was about to be in. She smiled back at Sasuke nervously and turned to start her slow walk into the arena, the young boy watched her go until she turned a corner and then sped off to find a good seat where he could see her perfectly.

Mika walked out into the sunny arena on the opposite side she had been on when she had fought Rock Lee and immediately saw the two men she was to fight chatting animatedly with a third man who was, she guessed, the referee. The two men she was going to fight were wearing identical mauve outfits and were smiling comfortably at each other and the third man; one of them had bushy black hair and a bandage over his nose, the other had dark brown hair which covered the right hand side of his face kept down by his forehead protector which was in the shape of a bandana. They noticed her standing there and indicated for her to join them, welcoming smiles across their faces.

'Hey there, you must be Tikaake Mika.' said the one with half his face hidden, still smiling a little roguishly down at her. She nodded silently, nerves constricting her already shy voice box. 'I am Izumo and this is Kotetsu. We're the ones you'll be doing battle with.' He said it as though it was nothing, as though he did this sort of thing every other day (which he probably did but we don't mention that)!

'And I'm your referee for today.' said the man standing beside the three of them, also smiling kindly at her. 'Shall we begin?'

'Shall we not?' managed the girl in a small choking noise. She was surprised they could understand through the strange gurgling noise which had passed her lips, but somehow they were all laughing.

'Okay then, three yards back please.' said the referee after calming down a bit but he was still grinning. 'Keep it clean!' he shouted at the three people who were now separated by a six yard distance. 'Shall we not…' he added, shaking his head and chuckling a bit. 'GO!'

She jumped as his hand fell to his side and instinctively raised her right hand in a grasping motion, at the same time Izumo had leapt up and was running at her with a ferocious expression on his handsome face. Behind him she noticed Kotetsu being grabbed by what looked like a hand made entirely of tree roots, his face contorted in shock as he was pulled down until only his head was above the ground. Izumo swiped at her with a kunai knife but was pushed back by a large wall of water which had sprung up between them, he leapt over it so that he was standing behind the girl who looked at him in terror. For a moment he thought she was going to cave in but in the nano-second he hesitated, a powerful gust of wind threw him off his feet and about two yards to the right of where he had been standing. He noticed Kotetsu being held captive in his earthy prison and realised that there was a lot more to this girl than the Hokage had let slip, he looked over at the girl who was standing quite still watching him with a determined look on her young face.

'Fire style! Phoenix flower jutsu!' He cried while doing the rat, tiger, dog, ox, rabbit and tiger signs and glaring at the young girl whose eyes widened in surprise as the flames came speeding towards her menacingly. She threw out both her hands as though trying to push the balls of fire back, her face screwed up against the effort and the determined frown still stuck to her forehead. Suddenly the flames were heading straight for him, back the way they had come, forcing him to spring out of the way as they hit the place where he had been standing less than a second before; but when he landed the flames were still following him, eerily flying after him at top speed. He did the Tiger sign followed by the snake and tiger again with his face screwed up in frustrated nerves as a huge wall of water appeared in front of him, dousing the fire balls and leaving him unharmed.

Now he knew why the Hokage had said he'd need both of them to fight her: one alone wasn't much of a challenge for her. He watched in horror as his water wall suddenly began moving towards him like a huge watery serpent, crumbling the ground beneath it with it's strength and leaving a path of cracked earth behind it. He quickly used a substitution jutsu and hid in the only tree in the stadium, his chest heaving as he caught his breath, watching as the young girl looked around herself. Suddenly Izumo felt something grab his ankle and pull him backwards with incredible strength, pulling him out of his leafy refuge and holding him upside down by his ankle out in the open. He glanced up and saw the girl watching him with a fierce look on her young face, her hands hanging uninterestedly by her sides. He watched as she looked over at Kotetsu who was still writhing in his earthy captor, trying desperately to get lose but failing miserably.

While she wasn't looking Izumo quickly used a second substitution, creating at the same time a clone to distract her for a moment while he thought of what to do. She jerked her head around as he disappeared with a furious expression, watching the clone running towards her with a large sword pointed straight at her. She lifted her hand in the air, closing her eyes as she did so in concentration and giving Izumo the break he needed to sneak up behind her. He slunk up through the ground he'd been hiding in, holding a kunai in his mouth and a large extent of wire in his hands, his whole being concentrating on remaining unseen.

Suddenly a bolt of lightning smashed down inches from his face, forcing him to jump backwards to evade it as he did so he noticed the girl jump out of her skin and cry out in fear, spinning around to see what had happened as though it had taken her completely by surprise as well. The two fighters looked up at each other in shock, both pairs of eyes wide in fear at what had just happened, but behind her the clone was still running towards her with the sword held aloft. As it got to within a yard she glanced over her shoulder, crying out in alarm as she registered what it was; she fell back on the ground and held out her left hand in the same manner Izumo had watched Gaara doing less than a year ago, and watched a thin blade of earth spring up from beneath his clone, splitting it right down the middle before it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

At that moment, Kotetsu managed to break free and threw what looked like all of his shuriken at Mika who scrunched up her eyes again and lifted both her hands in the air before bringing them crashing down whereupon a huge wall of water fell in front of the shuriken, forcing them to stop. Kotetsu watched in dread as the waterfall started rushing towards him at great speed making the ground around him tremble, he leapt out of the way and landed right beside the wall only to find a vast amount of water falling on him where he stood forcing him to the ground where he lay spluttering, panting in exhaustion. He could see Izumo running around the girl and watched as they both drew kunai knives and started thrusting them at each other… but his vision was becoming hazy… he couldn't see which was which… He felt something grab him by the ankle and lift him off the ground, lifting him up so high that he could now see the spectators faces as they watched him being placed carefully in a seat, out of harms way, in awe.

Izumo literally threw himself at the girl, his teeth gritting as he watched what looked like a tree picking his friend up and putting him in the stands. The girl was glowering at him across their knives, the sparks flying everywhere as they continued to smash against each other. Suddenly a spark turned into a tiny flame as they wrestled together, kunai against kunai, brute force pushing at the other, the girl was being pushed backwards towards the wall but the tiny flame which had appeared where the kunai knives were touching burst into life and grew so fast that it engulfed both the bodies, making Izumo cry out in pain and leap backwards. He put the fire on his body out and looked back over at the girl who was still covered in flames, glaring at him ferociously through the haze between them which the fire was creating.

'Do you want to continue?' came her echoing voice over the sound of burning, the crackling of the grass scorching beneath her feet but for some reason not her. She picked up the kunai he had dropped with the heat and threw it to him, her eyes following it's journey as it landed between his feet, stuck in the soft ground. He looked up at the girl, her plum coloured hair seemed more red in the colour of the flames, her skin seemed strangely lighter, but her eyes were still a deep hazel just with fire burning in them. This girl was dangerous; not just her powers, but there was something about her which Izumo didn't like, a strange longing for more which she didn't know about yet but he could see it. He could feel it in the hot air around them.

Mika watched as the man looked at her, a determined frown on his handsome forehead and his chest heaving. She knew she could take him, he was hesitant about the flames which were floating around her body, licking her limbs almost affectionately as though trying to comfort her. In a way she wanted him to pick up the knife and run back at her, forcing her to fight back; now that he was alone and she didn't have to worry about being ambushed, she could have a bit of fun with him… What was she thinking? Was this really her? She wasn't like this…

'_Go ahead, have some fun…_' came a silky male voice in a tiny whisper which she guessed was in her head, because she would never have heard it other wise. She jerked her head around, looking for someone who might have been trying to trick her but the man she had knocked out was still slumped in his seat and the man in front of her was undecided. She heard the voice chuckling quietly. '_You won't see me… but I can see you…_' She was scared now, who was this? What did he want? Was he a threat? '_I don't want to hurt you, Mika._'

The young, handsome man in front of her picked up the knife and took a few steps back before taking his defensive position, ready to continue the fight. Mika shook her head, trying to get rid of the silky voice inside her mind and grasped her kunai tighter, her frown intensifying as she readied to resume battle. Izumo ran at her, gritting his teeth as he did so, but before he got to her he disappeared in a small flicker like what happened when Mika used her favourite genjutsu: Hidden dear.

'_He's behind you._' came the voice again, making her turn around and sure enough there he was, what looked like the sword from earlier held aloft as he prepared to stab her and keep out of the way of the fire. She squealed and hastily summoned a tree to grow between them, a branch grabbed his wrist and pulled him forwards into the hard bark which slowly enveloped him. She took a few steps back and shook her head again, brushing her hair out of the way as she did so, and held her hand up at shoulder height close to her chest which was heaving. She watched as the tree slowly turned around and showed her the prisoner as he squirmed in the strong bark which had enclosed him in it's grip, she smiled as a strange kind of delight filled her young body and pushed her to do more. '_Play with him… I know that's what you want…_' came the voice again making Mika's expression turn from that of perverted delight to that of surprised fear, making her decide against what she had planned.

'Do you want to continue?' she repeated quietly, watching him look up at her in frustration as the flames subsided from around her progressively. He took a deep breath and looked down at the ground, shaking his head in defeat. Mika tilted her head to one side as she ordered the tree to release him and subside back into the ground from whence it had come, which it did. She stepped forwards, disappointment coursing through every fibre of her small being as she watched him standing up and brushing off the leaves and small pieces of wood off of himself.

'Good fight.' he said after a moment, his old smile recovered and stuck to his handsome face as he held out his right hand for her to take. She smiled back up at him as she shook his hand, slightly proud of herself that she had mastered all her powers well enough to defeat two chuunin… well, all except the electricity which hadn't done as she had told it and instead had saved her life. She knew that it hadn't saved her life because Izumo wouldn't have killed her, but had she been in a real battle it would have saved her. 'Thanks for putting Kotetsu up there.' he added as they headed towards the exit.

'Well I didn't want him to get more hurt than he already is.' she answered shyly, surprised that she had recovered her normal voice instead of the growl she had used during battle. 'Will he be okay?' she asked looking up at the man walking beside her.

'You tell me! You were the one who almost drowned and crushed him at the same time!' he replied with a laugh but Mika noticed a slight edge to his friendly voice. 'Will he be okay? I think so, he's pretty tough. Not as tough as you though! You're something else.' he added, nudging her as they got to the exit. 'I'll see you round then.' he finished as he turned off up the stairs where most people were crowding down, waving at her as they passed. Mika sighed to herself and turned the other way, heading down a dark corridor she hoped she would be alone in: she was curious about the strange silky voice she had heard when she was fighting. But she didn't get very far when-

'Mika!' came a loud voice behind her. Before she had time to turn around someone had thrown themselves onto her back, their arms around her neck and their legs wrapped around her waist in a piggyback. 'You were great, Mika! Believe it!!!' cried Naruto from his position on the girls back, ignoring the fact that her knees were buckling badly and she was close to falling to the floor.

'Get off her Naruto!' came Sakura's familiar voice before Mika felt a bump indicating the she had hit the blond boy on the head. She felt Naruto slowly let go of her neck, and his legs slip down hers until the were firmly on the floor, she turned around and smiled at Naruto rubbing his head and Sakura blushing at her uncomfortably. 'That was… uhh… impressive…' she said, trying to find something nice to say about the girl who had stole the boy she loved from her. (_inner Sakura:__ CHA! I should get a medal for this! GRRR… I'll get Sasuke back one day!!!_)

'Thanks…' answered Mika uncertainly, taking a hold of Naruto's upper arm to stop him from swaying and holding him steady beside her. 'It was… It was really hard…' she admitted, feeling her cheeks burn.

'Oh yeah!' interrupted Naruto, suddenly coming back to himself and lifting his index finger in the air and grinning. 'Sasuke told me to tell you that he'll see you later, but he had to go.' he told her, still grinning broadly at her. She sighed discreetly in disappointment.

'Thanks Naruto.' she said quietly as a nasty headache suddenly hit her. The one thing she really wanted to do now was talk to Sasuke and he was busy. 'I'm gonna go and… umm… feed the cat…' she finished lamely, pointing vaguely down the corridor she had been heading down and letting her feet slowly lead her that way, leaving Naruto and Sakura standing there with confused expressions.

'But, the exit is that way…' pointed out Naruto to Sakura after Mika was out of earshot, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at the door so many people were filing out of.

**Sorry this was such a long chapter but the beginning on its own was WAY too short... so I guess I had to put it with the fight scene! blushes**


	8. who are you to talk?

Later that day Mika was making her way up the stone steps to where the Hokage was yet again waiting for her, clearly to talk about the events of the early afternoon. She sighed as she contemplated the wooden door in front of her, the white paint looked fairly new and there was a certain telltale freshness about it. She took a deep breath, biting her lower lip apprehensively and knocked three times, hearing the deep voice from within calling her to enter.

She went and stood where she had the day before in the middle of the room, her hands behind her back and her eyes stuck to the ground. She heard a certain amount of paper rustling and two voices whispering frenetically, trying not to let her hear them but the small inaudible voices were just as bad as though they had been speaking normally.

'So, Mika Tikaake.' came the Hokage's deep voice as he looked up at the nervous girl, he cleared his throat a little when she didn't look up. 'Your powers are very impressive. You defeated those two chuunin with relative ease, didn't you?' she looked up uncertainly, this was not news to her and she knew he was just trying to be polite.

'I wouldn't say "ease", sir.' she answered quietly when noone spoke, glancing tentatively from the Hokage to the man beside him who was not the same man as the day before: This man looked a lot more rugged, with several scars adorning his blank face as he gazed at her steadily.

'But you defeated them.' he repeated nodding his head slowly. 'For a girl of nearly thirteen to defeat, not only one but two chuunin is not often witnessed in this village.' he told her with his eyes fixed on a spot a few inches in front of her feet while the man beside him scrutinised the young girl's nervous face which slowly became defiant. 'Mika, do you know just how powerful you actually are? Do you know the extent of your talents?' he asked, finally getting to the point and looking up at her rebellious face, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. He entwined his fingers and placed his chin on the knuckles gently and passed his eyes over her expression.

'My powers?' she repeated, unwilling to help them. She didn't know why she didn't want to be helpful, maybe it was the fear in their eyes which they were desperately trying to hide from her. 'Why? I have control over them. You are in no danger.' she finished, hoping to sound patronising.

'Oh, aren't we?' asked the scarred man sitting beside the leader of the village, looking straight at the young girl with a hard look which told her that she shouldn't be messing with him but she ignored it. 'Can you prove that?'

'_Ignorant fool…_' came the silky voice in the girls head making her screw her eyes up, trying to shut it out. But it was right… she agreed with the voice in her mind.

'I was born in this village.' she told him now openly glaring at them both, affronted that they should think that she would bring harm to the Village she knew and loved. 'I am faithful to-'

'Can you prove that?' asked the man again, cutting across her sentence and making her grit her teeth in frustration. 'Tikaake Mika, you are one of the most powerful shinobi in the village at this time, and we cannot be too sure of whether you-' But she didn't hear the rest. She was listening to the voice in her mind.

'_What does he know?_' came the enthralling male voice, making perfect sense to the girl with the plum coloured hair. '_Has he ever been through what you have? Does he know what it's like to constantly feel __everything__ around him?_' How did he know? How did he know exactly what she was going through?

'So?' came the man's voice as he stood up, towering above the thirteen year old girl who continued to glare up at him defiantly as though challenging him. 'What are you going to do?' he asked leaning forwards on the table in front of him, forcing him to bend over and move and inch or so closer to the girl. She sneered in disgust at his patronising tone.

'_You are worth more than this._' said the voice slowly in a low whisper which made Mika feel slightly ruthless. '_You don't need this kind of harassment._'

'Do you want me to leave?' she asked trying hard to get the poisonous tone Sakura had used on her about three and a half weeks ago and was content with the result. 'Even though that would considerably weaken your already pathetic village.' she continued, perfectly aware that she was contradicting herself as she did so, but she didn't care. 'Without even a single member of the Tikaake clan this village is considerably weaker than it's neighbours, and you know it.' She watched the two older men bristle at the sound of their precious village being insulted, she smiled in satisfaction. The voice inside Mika's head chuckled, giving her even more of a sense of pride in what she had said.

'I thought you were faithful to this village.' said the man with the scars, clearly getting angry. Mika watched as the Hokage put a hand on the other mans forearm, trying to calm him slightly.

'Calm yourself, Ibiki.' he said quietly, looking down at the arm his hand was gently resting on. The mean man who was still standing glanced down at the Hokage briefly before looking back at the defiant young girl who continued to glare straight back at him. There was a long pause in which Mika was expected to apologize to them for her insolence, but she wasn't about to say she didn't mean what she had said. Because that would have been a lie.

'I'm not going to lie.' said the man who was still glowering at the girl, closing his eyes in frustration and letting his chin press against his chin. 'I don't like the look in the girls eyes.' he continued as though she wasn't there, opening his eyes and gazing at the older man steadily. Mika's fingernails bit into the leather of her black gloves as her fists twitched furiously.

'_Foolish peasant._' came the enthralling voice in Mika's mind, almost pushing her to lose her temper but she held on. '_How dare he speak as though you weren't even there._'

'I believe she is not to be trusted.' continued the man named Ibiki, still not looking at the girl but simply gazing at the Hokage who was still staring down at the table. 'That look in her eyes, the fire in her soul cannot be doused-'

'And why would you want to douse it?' asked the older man and the young girl in unison, glaring up at the scarred man who glanced from one to the other with an incredulous expression. The Hokage sighed.

'You may go, Mika.' he said quietly looking back down at his entwined fingers sadly, as though someone very close to him had just said something very hurtful but he didn't want to make them feel bad about it because he felt too much for them.

'Why?' she asked defiantly still frowning up at the two men. 'What's the point?' she continued her voice rising dangerously. 'Why leave when you can just talk about me behind my back and I'll find out from someone else? Why can't you just tell me your feelings now? To my face?' tears of frustration and anger welling up behind her deep hazel eyes.

'How dare you talk to the Hokage like that?!?' shouted the scarred man his temper suddenly flaring up as he bellowed at the girl, a vein in his disfigured temple pulsating.

'_How dare he talk to you like that?_' came the familiar voice in Mika's mind, edging her on.

'I dare to talk to him like that because he dares to dismiss me when we're not finished!' she bellowed, her fists still clenched painfully by her sides and the tears beginning to cloud up her vision.

'YOU ARE A SIMPLE GIRL!!!! WHAT GOOD DO EXPECT TO DO?!?!?!?' bellowed the man a lot louder than she could ever shout, suddenly looking very dangerous to her and making her stop trying to out-shout him because she saw how stupid it was to try. She stood in silence, her chest heaving with the tears which were now rolling down her flushed cheeks as she tried to keep her face defiant while it cracked with the tears.

'Go, Mika.' came the Hokage's voice from beneath his large hat which was now hiding his whole face, the only part of his visible was his left hand which was gripping the hat down before his face.

Mika felt betrayed for some reason. She had believed the Hokage to be a good man, someone on her side, but the way he had just dismissed her in such disdain made her think otherwise. She made her way to the door, her chest heaving with the silent tears now streaming down her face and dropping on the wooden floor between her feet as she glanced back while the door closed. In the last fleeting glimpse she got of the room she could have sworn she saw the Hokage's face red with miserable tears seeping down his wrinkled cheeks.

'_What does he have to weep for?_' came the familiar silky male voice Mika had grown strangely fond of. '_He has power and he controls what people do, and yet he has the gall to weep at a simple fight which did not even concern him._' She sniffed as she walked along the deserted side street, her left hand clutching her right elbow as she stared at where her feet were leading her. She found a hidden corner behind the see-saw and crouched down in the shadow of the children's game, her knees pressing up against her chest as she hid her face between them, her shoulders shaking as she tried to stifle the tears. Her right hand was locked around her left wrist as she tried to pull her legs closer to her body, trying to hide her self pity as she continued to weep bitterly into the fabric of her leggings. '_It's alright…_' Mika heard the smooth voice saying soothingly, comforting her in her moment. '_I'm here for you, Mika._'

'Wh-who are y-you?' she choked without looking up as the tears continued to spill out of her deep brown eyes her, her plum coloured hair falling down across her knees and shoulders. 'How- how do you know m-me?' she added, still trying to stifle the powerful sobs which were shuddering her small body.

'_My name is Orochimaru,_' came the friendly voice soothingly as the young girl began to calm down slightly and wiped her wet cheek with the back of her gloved hand, making sure the piece of steel didn't scratch her. '_and there are not many people who have not heard of you, but they have heard only of your power._' he continued in a friendly voice which made the girl feel strangely safe. '_But I saw past the intense power that you wield._'

'W-what did you… you see?' asked the girl looking up curiously from her position curled up behind the see-saw, sniffing a little as she looked around in benign inquisitiveness.

'_I saw a young girl in pain._' he told her quietly, the compassion audible in his silky voice. Mika's eyes began to water again as she thought of how he was the only one who had seen her pain; her agony; she hid her face in her knees again. Suddenly she felt as though a tender hand was stroking her back affectionately, trying to comfort her in her pain. She looked up to see who it was and found that noone was there, and yet she could still feel the friendly touch as it went up and down her shoulder blades. '_Don't be scared, Mika. I would never hurt you._'

'I know.' she answered, calming down at the reassuring thought that her new friend would be there for her… at least for a while. 'Thank- thank you.' she added, realising how impolite she must have been earlier.

'_You never have to thank me for anything._' he told her kindly, sounding somehow closer than he had previously. '_You would never have to ask for anything either._' he added so quietly Mika wondered how she heard. And for some reason she automatically knew he was talking about her and Sasuke's "relationship".

Suddenly she felt something soft and friendly on her right arm, gently pulling it away from it's grip and out to her side before the hand was picked up to shoulder height. Mika watched in surprise as her hand was picked up by thin air beside her and was pressed against a pair of non existent lips somewhere just above shoulder height, her stunning eyes wide in awe but she didn't object. She felt the invisible pair of lips slowly edge up her arm until they were kissing her shoulder amorously, and she thought she saw a whisper of a man there looking up at her with golden eyes and white skin, gazing deep into her eyes and silently telling her that he adored her, that he would never let her get hurt. Mika watched as the whisper of his face faded again into nothingness and the pressure of the invisible lips disappeared, leaving her arms to fall back to her side while her face gradually went back to normal, if a little confused.

'Mika?' came another anxious voice on the other side of the see-saw. She looked over her shoulder, hoping her face wasn't too red and puffy from the tears, and saw Sasuke looking around for her fretfully. 'Someone said they saw you running this way.' he continued, still not finding her.

'Sasuke…?' she whimpered, lifting herself up a little so that he could see her behind the children's play thing. She watched him spin around and set eyes on her tear stricken face and saw his face become soft and worried.

'I'm so sorry…' he said quickly making his way over to her behind the wooden apparatus. He swiftly took her in his arms and pressed her to him adoringly, trying to mentally take away all her pain. 'I had to-'

'See someone…' she finished for him letting herself sink into his strong arms, taking all the affection she could. '…I know.'

'I'm so sorry.' he said quietly and holding her closer to him. 'I'll make it up to you… I promise.' Neither of them knew how he would ever make it up to her and part of Mika believed he wouldn't, but in that moment all she wanted was something familiar to show her affection.

**Okay, well I'd like to apologize to everyone for the unusually long delay in puttint this chapter up. It's just I've haven't been able to connect my laptop to the internet because my dad's been on my back for various reasons. Anywho, here's the next chapter and hope to get another one up soon!**

**I'd like to thank my two most loyal readers Lonely-Kitty and Freakageek (sorry I don't know quite how to write either of those!)**


	9. confusing advice

The next day Mika was preparing for her get together the next day during which she would perform the Tikaake dance to her closest friends and people who helped her recover her memories. She had also invited a few of her families close friends who she could remember, but there weren't many.

'_You look stunning._' came the silky male voice as she looked at herself in the mirror trying on her aunts costume: her mothers was too big for her and her old one had fitted her when she was eight. She smiled at the now familiar voice and blushed a little as she twirled around, watching the fairly heavy fabric follow her movement. '_Even more so than usual._' he added making the girls blush intensify.

She had agreed to meet up with Naruto and a few of his friends later that day in the park to get her mind off her battle the day before. Mika had persuaded Sasuke to join her which he had consented to do with great reluctance. She changed back into her usual outfit while the friendly voice in her mind continued to chat amicably, Surplus watched her lazily from his position in the centre of her bed. She had breakfast quickly despite the fact that it was already midday, left the bowl in the already overflowing sink and ran out of the door, shouting a hurried goodbye to her beloved cat.

Sasuke was already waiting for her by the swings, his right arm linked unenthusiastically around the string as he stared steadily at the ground between his feet which followed his slow swinging movement in the breeze. Mika snuck up behind him silently, biting her lip a little as she concentrated on keeping quiet, a playful smile on her lips. She reached forwards and put her hands over his eyes so that he couldn't see, making him jump out of his skin and leap up in surprise.

'Mika what are you doing?' he exclaimed incredulously, his chest heaving in shock and his wide eyes boring into the nervous girl whose hands were still in the same position they had been when they were covering his eyes. 'Sorry… you- you surprised me.' The girl with the brown eyes noticed a kunai knife already ready for battle clutched in his right hand: he was nervous about something.

'_He's keeping something from you._' said the silky voice quietly.

'What's wrong, Sasuke?' she asked, standing up straight and looking at him through narrowed eyes. She watched him put the knife back in his shuriken holster and wondered whether he would have hurt her had he not realised who it was in time. 'You're not usually this jumpy.'

'It's nothing.' he mumbled rubbing the top of his left shoulder underneath his shirt and looking down at the ground unresponsively. When he looked up he saw Mika's disbelieving expression and her crossed arms and instinctively knew that it was no good denying it. 'I-I think something… someone bad is close.' he sighed, defeated. Mika's expression was curious, she wanted to know more. 'During the chuunin exam a man-a demon came to disrupt it and… well he left a mark on me. I don't know why, I guess he thought I was good, but it… it's a curse mark and it burns every time he's close.' he explained quickly, his hands moving nervously as he watched Mika listening closely.

'What was his name?' she said in such a quiet voice Sasuke was surprised he had heard her, but there was no mistaking her curiosity… and yet there was more to it than just benign inquisitiveness.

'His name was… and still is…' he paused before saying it, the name which had almost killed him and had cost him the chuunin exam. 'Orochimaru.' Mika's eyes fell to the ground where they darted left and right nervously. Sasuke wondered why this meant so much to her, did she know of him? Had he done something to her as well? 'Mika, do you know him?'

'No.' answered the girl immediately and a lot louder than her previous question. She cleared her throat nervously as she looked up at him again, uncertainty in her deep brown eyes. 'May I see it?' Sasuke walked slowly over to her and pulled down on the collar of his t-shirt, revealing the small black marks on his neck and the black circle which Kakashi had put there to keep the mark under control. 'Is it a lot of trouble?' she asked after inspecting it from a distance and looking back up into his eyes with an anxious expression on her pretty face. He shook his head and a small smile crept onto his lips at her worried expression, he was about to say something affectionate when he heard voices away to his right and her left.

'_It was a gift, of course it's no trouble._' said the quietly familiar voice in Mika's mind.

They both looked in that direction and saw Naruto, Shikamaru and Choji walking towards them, Naruto talking loudly as usual. When they spotted Sasuke and Mika the blond boy waved enthusiastically while the other two exchanged meaningful looks, behind them a girl and another boy Mika didn't recognise were talking as the followed. The girl had brown hair which was pulled into two little buns on wither side of her head, she had a pink shirt on and dark green trousers; the boy had long dark brown hair which was tied in a very loose ponytail, a dark beige top and his eyes were a pearly white.

'He's got white eyes…' whispered Mika to Sasuke, trying to look inconspicuous as the gang came ever closer. Sasuke nodded with a friendly smile.

'He's from the Hyuuga clan.' he told her under his breath, leaning a little closer to the girl who continued to look blank. 'They have the byakugan which enables them to see peoples chakra, that's Neji and the girl is Tenten.' he explained briefly.

'They're not related though?' she asked quickly as their friends neared and were nearly in hearing distance. Sasuke shook his head and answered "no" as Naruto and the other two reached them and stood smiling at them. 'Hi Naruto! How are you?'

'Kakashi's working us really hard.' he answered with a tired expression and slouching his back in mock exhaustion. Shikamaru made a small disbelieving sound and Choji continued to much at a packet of crisps. 'How about you? Still training too then?' he asked putting his hands on his hips.

'This morning I was practising my choreography.' she answered shaking her head slightly, her friendly smile still glued to her face while Sasuke just glared moodily at them all. 'For the dance tomorrow night.' she added noticing Naruto's blank stare.

'_Buffoon._' said the voice in Mika's head, inaudible to everyone other than her.

'The Tikaake dance which she invited us to go and watch her do.' explained Sasuke when Naruto still didn't seem to get it. The blond boy glared daggers at the dark haired Uchiha boy.

'I knew that!' he exclaimed furiously, shaking his fist at Sasuke who ignored him. Tenten gave a tiny cough from beside Shikamaru, letting them know that she and Neji were there. 'Oh yeah! Mika, this is Neji and Tenten!' continued the blond boy after getting over his moment of frustration. 'Neji, Tenten this is Mika!'

'We saw you fighting yesterday.' said the boy, his expression neutral as he sized the Mika up. 'Impressive powers. It would be interesting doing battle with you.' he finished, a hint of a smile creeping onto his cold lips.

'Don't listen to him, he's always thinking about doing battle with people he finds impressive.' interrupted Tenten with a dismissive wave of her hand and a friendly smile on her attractive face. 'So you're the girl who couldn't remember who she was, huh? That must have sucked!'

'Yeah, kinda!' answered Mika uncertainly, her usual shyness taking over again.

'I've said it before and I'll say it again,' said Shikamaru looking at Mika steadily with a hint of a smile on his handsome face. 'Memory loss… what a drag!' They all laughed at the memory of the time before when he had said that, before a friendly conversation started and they were all chatting happily.

A bit later the conversation was still going strong and they were all sitting around in a non-circular circle so that they could all see each other. Mika was sitting between Sasuke and Naruto, Naruto was beside Shikamaru who was next to Choji who was sitting beside Tenten who was next to Neji. Kiba and Akamaru had arrived shortly after they had sat down and had squeezed themselves between Neji and Sasuke (**that was all very tedious… won't do that again! XD**). Mika was leaning a little on Sasuke and their hands were linked affectionately, but she wasn't listening to the conversation: She was listening to the voice in her head she knew belonged to the man Sasuke had been talking about earlier… but he was so interesting, and he seemed to know so much about her… and he was so soothing and kind.

Every now and then she'd hear her name being said and she'd snap back to the conversation just to make sure they weren't talking to her but they were usually just making a reference to her method of fighting or something and she was able to go back to listening to Orochimaru talking to her. Why did Sasuke hate him so much? Orochimaru had explained to her that the mark he had left on Sasuke's neck was in fact a gift which would make him stronger later on in life. Mika frowned to herself as she wondered why the friendly owner of the voice in her head was so despised by the boy she adored.

'Are you okay Mika?' came Sasuke's voice suddenly, tugging Mika away from her little dream land she had been in. 'You look tense… do you wanna leave?' he asked anxiously, worried about her expression. She also knew he wanted to leave.

'I… umm, I need to go to… the bathroom…' she stuttered, unsure of what to say. She smiled over at him and received an adoring smile in return which made her grin more and blush crimson as she got to her feet tentatively, pins and needles biting at her right foot. She hobbled off and round a corner where she stopped and leant against the wall, wincing at the uncomfortable feeling in her foot, when she heard hurried footsteps.

'Mika!' came a girls voice, coming swiftly closer. Mika frowned as Tenten came rushing around the corner and had to grind to a halt so as not to bump into the girl with the plum coloured hair. 'There you are!' she panted as she regained her balance. 'Umm… I know I don't know you very well-'

'That's a bit of an understatement!' answered Mika smiling amicably at the brown haired girl in front of her. Tenten laughed meekly.

'_Pathetic._' She tried to ignore the familiar voice.

'Well, I just wanted to say…' continued the older girl standing up straight again and looking straight at Mika's politely perplexed face. 'I know what you're thinking… and you've gotta think about it before you just give up.' Mika gazed at her blankly, her deep hazel eyes wide as she tried desperately to make either head or tails of the situation. 'I can see it in your smile… when you smiled at him… there was something in the shadow of your smile.'

'Umm… Tenten, no offence… but I think you're seeing things.' answered the younger girl tentatively with an apologetic expression on her pretty face. The brown haired girl opposite Mika smiled understandingly at her and shook her head slightly.

'Well, this is all I wanted to say.' she replied, the accepting smile still etched into her pretty features. 'Think about it before you walk away from him.'

'Are you talking about Sasuke?' asked Mika, an inkling of comprehension dawning in her eyes. Tenten smiled and started to walk back to the rest of the group, watching Mika intently as she moved slowly backwards before turning on her heel and leaving at a small jog.

'_Rude peasant._' spat Orochimaru's voice as she watched her run off incredulously. Mika frowned down at the ground as she went over their brief conversation in her mind, trying to make sense of it. Why would she leave Sasuke? She adored Sasuke, and that was obvious to everyone. '_What does she know?_'

**Cheer up Lonely-Kitty! Hope this helps! 3**


	10. the memory dance

Mika could feel her heart beating viciously against her left breast, almost hard enough to make the girl think it might try and escape the heat of her chest as it heaved silently in terror. She took a deep breath as she slipped her legs into her aunts old Tikaake dance costume, feeling the weight of the heavy fabric on her small yet shapely hips, and feeling the soft texture on her inner thighs. It was half past six in the evening and her guests were due at about seven to watch her dancing and for dinner, she had been working all afternoon and had had to call upon a few clones to help her with the cooking and the preparation of the large room in which she would host her get together. That one room, along with it's en-suite kitchen, was the only one which hadn't fallen into decay over the years it hadn't been used: the floor of the stage hadn't rotted away nor had the floor of the main dancing area, and the kitchen was almost exactly how it had been the last time Mika had seen it… other than a couple of rather large spiders Mika had had to destroy unceremoniously with a large frying pan.

Several times she had found her eyes watering as memories flooded back to her with agonising precision and detail: her mother cooking in their kitchen, her brother running after her in a game of catch, her father kissing her mother in adoration… and then there were the less detailed memories like her aunt and uncle shouting at her and Mizu for some random misdeed which they had been caught doing, her grandfather shaking a stick at her for throwing water on him while he slept… Mizu having disappeared moments before. Her eldest cousin Keamon trying to teach her how to throw several shuriken at the same time, her aunt talking with her mother while her mother was gardening… she sniffed once more as she remembered how beautiful the garden had been.

'_It's alright to cry._' came Orochimaru's soothing voice as she rubbed her left eye with the palm of her left hand, picking up a bowl of nibbles with her free hand and walking out of the tiny kitchen and into the main hall. She looked over at the stage as she placed the small bowl on the table set out especially for the occasion, imagining what it would be like for the spectators watching her… would they all be able to see her properly? Would they be comfortable? Did this room smell or was it just her? '_Calm down Mika! The room doesn't smell other than your sweet fragrance, the audience will be able to see you perfectly because you are simply radiant this evening and of course they will be comfortable and if they're not their minds will not be on the discomfort so much as on how stunning you are._' The young girl blushed self consciously at the stream of compliments the debonair voice had just offered her.

'What if they don't like the dance?' she asked uncertainly, feeling a little stupid that she was asking thin air a question, but as though on queue she felt a soft hand coming against her from behind and slinking it's way around her stomach while another invisible hand took her opposite arm and lifted it slightly, kissing the naked skin and making the tiny hairs stand on end deliciously.

'_If they don't like the dance,_' he started, the ghost of his image appearing where the invisible lips had been a moment before, looking up at her affectionately and yet lustfully, giving her a delicious feeling of confused emotions. '_they're sure to like you._' he moved his face closer to hers as she looked sideways at him, her breathing suddenly heavy as his lips inched closer and closer, his eyes darting from her slightly open lips to her deep hazel eyes. '_Because who could not like you?_' he added in a whisper before disappearing again, the pressure of his invisible hands around her waist and on her arm suddenly evaporating and making her arm fall heavily back to her side. She took a deep, slightly shaky breath and looked over at the clock on the wall: a quarter to seven.

'I've still got _ages_.' she groaned, almost to herself although she knew that Orochimaru was never far away. 'You know, I'm really tired of this village.' she said, sighing slightly as she meandered around the large room. 'They don't trust me here… they think I'm a danger to myself and others.' She sighed deeply partially due to boredom, partially due to pessimism that the people of the village she adored didn't trust her. 'All because of these dumb powers… I didn't even ask for them! It's because they're scared of me… scared of how strong I am now…'

'_I believe your power is a gift._' came the familiar voice finally, having stayed silent for the past few minutes while Mika rambled. '_Not many people are gifted the way you are. They're jealous as well as apprehensive._'

'Well they shouldn't be.' she answered moodily, glaring down at the floor as though it had personally brought this on her. 'Do they think it's easy controlling all these elements?' she asked furiously, looking up incredulously and looking around as though searching for someone to look incredulously at. 'It's not my fault I'm this powerful! I could destroy this whole village if I wanted to.'

'_Why don't you?_'

'Because I don't want to.' she answered quietly, calming down a little and gazing down at the floor apologetically. 'That's the whole problem. I love this place too much, and it's being mean to me… it's hurting me.'

'_Maybe you should leave for a while._' suggested Orochimaru sympathetically. '_And come back when you've got complete control over your talents._' Mika's head snapped up as though she was going to argue that she already had complete control. '_I know you're still having trouble with precision. And your technique is messy._' he continued before she could butt in, and her eyes slowly feel to the floor again miserably.

'Oh Orochimaru.' she moaned unhappily. 'I wish you were here. You understand me, you'd teach me how to control my strength.' she whimpered miserably, almost inaudibly as she continued to gaze steadily at her feet.

'_Why don't you come and find me?_' he proposed benignly, making the girl look up interestedly. '_There's plenty of room for you to stay where I am at the moment._' he continued helpfully, but Mika shook her head making her long plum coloured hair flutter with the movement.

'I can't… I couldn't' she stuttered uncertainly, looking down at the corner of the room as though trying not to look at his face although he wasn't actually there. 'There's Sasuke and- and… well… my home and… Surplus!' she finished looking up apologetically.

'_If you don't want to come then that's fine._' came the voice again with a hint of a smile and a chuckle. '_You just have to say, but if you ever need it then the door is always open here._'

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door. Mika glanced at the clock and saw that it was in fact five minutes past seven which made her heart skip a beat. She hastily created a clone to answer the door and ran backstage to prepare the music, the curtains and all the other last minute jobs which she hadn't done yet. She heard her clone opening the door and welcoming the guests who had already arrived, she heard Naruto's voice asking why she wasn't ready and Sasuke's telling him it was a clone, she heard Sakura's pained voice telling the clone she brought some tart for pudding, and Kakashi's voice saying that he'd forgotten. She heard the shuffling of feet as the clone showed them to their places in the front row while another knock came at the door.

Mika peered through a minuscule gap in the curtains and watched as the other guests were taken to their places behind Team Seven. She watched as Rock Lee, whom she had invited out of politeness, handed her clone a large bouquet of roses and saw that Sasuke was gritting his teeth in the front row as he listened, grasping a slightly smaller bouquet of small pink flowers. A few adults whom Mika recognised only vaguely were placed in the last few seats in the last row and Mika knew it was time to start.

She hurried to her place in the centre of the stage and knelt down in the beginning position, waiting for her clone to start the music, her heart beating painfully in her chest and butterflies infesting her stomach. She heard the curtains slide elegantly to the sides and the slow music start, reminding her painfully of the only other time she had ever performed. A second before she was supposed to start she felt the unmistakeable feeling of tender lips placed amorously on her right cheek, making her eyes widen in surprise. It lasted a fraction of a second but she almost missed her beginning as the slow beat kicked in, telling her to move. She lifted her hand into the air slowly as a tiny note wavered higher than the others, lingering just long enough for Mika to raise and drop her right hand elegantly, the beat thumped gently behind her as she lifted her upper body from her curled position, unwinding every single vertebra of her spine so as to make her movement flow harmoniously. She let her leg right slowly escape from beneath her thighs and lifted it up beside her shoulder before bringing it back down again, a sudden urge to make the dance a little more provocative taking her. Instead of lifting herself on her right leg, she leaned on her arms which were folded in front of her and lifted her lower half into the air so that she was bent completely over with her back to the crowd, she got a glimpse of her guests and smiled to herself as she saw Sasuke shifting uncomfortably and Kakashi's eyes wide in surprise.

She got up and looked over her left shoulder at a point on the opposite wall before elegantly entwining her own hips around her waist in an exquisite twist since she didn't have anyone else dancing with her she had to fill in the moment when her aunt and mother had picked her up. Her eyes prickled uncomfortably as tears tried to come forth, but the young girl pushed the thought away. She turned around on the beat, regaining the original choreography and moved her hips in time to the beat, then let her torso follow the last movement her shapely hips had made, rotating her chest in a sort of twisted circular movement before lowering herself into the splits which she hadn't been able to do the last time but which she found she could this time. She remembered her mother telling her that she didn't have to do the splits if she couldn't, that it would come with time… when she had mastered her power truly. She could see Sasuke's face as he watched her, his eyes wide and his mouth a little open; Mika smiled provocatively down at him, hoping that the others wouldn't think the smile was directed at them, but inside she was feeling alone, broken. She knew that she couldn't show it though, she couldn't let them know she was hurting… at least not during the dance.

She summoned another clone and proceeded to do the move her aunt and mother had done the last time, twisting herself around her clone backwards and lifting her right leg in a perpendicular angle to her left leg, her head hanging limp and her long hair sweeping across the clean floor. She noticed Sasuke fidgeting again and Kakashi glancing over at the young boy beside him, a tiny knowing smile on what Mika could see of his face before looking back up at the stage. Mika's clone disappeared again in a puff of smoke as the girl moved back to the middle of the stage and put her hands in a praying position, her hips gyrating in rhythm with the beat of the relaxing music; she counted three swings of her right hip, placed her hands on the left of her pelvis and letting her eyes fall to the flimsy skirt as she did so for one swing of her right hip before bringing her hands up in the previous position. She could feel the tears welling up behind her deep brown eyes, but she fought them as hard as she could. She repeated the move three times before letting her hips lead her nimble body around on the spot, her hands winding above her head as she did so, finding herself with her back to the small audience again. She did the praying move once more before turning on the spot so as to face the crowd, lowering herself progressively to the floor on all fours where she rotated her hips which made her chest revolve provocatively. Sasuke's eyes widened a bit more as he pressed his legs together in a telltale move which made Mika raise her left eyebrow before sitting up and holding her hands above her head, twisting her pelvis around as she looked down at the floor just in front of her left knee.

The hardest part of the dance was upon her, but she was ready; she folded her feet beneath her and pushed up hard making her entire body leave the ground for a fraction of a second which was just enough time for the girl to rearrange her limbs to land gracefully on her points. (**The points are the ends of the big toes… like the thing ballerinas do! 3**) She heard the collective intake from the small gathering and smiled unhappily inside at the memory of exactly the same reaction the last time, she was relishing the outward pain which was reflecting her agony at that moment but which was hidden by her make-up. She shuffled her toes across the floor as she waved her upper body around, changing the balance every time and wondering how long it would be until she fell over, her hands winding above her head again; she held in her emotions. She turned to face the audience again and saw Sasuke still watching her, his legs now crossed but his face was bright red as she bent her knees into right angles on either side of her pelvis so that the deep golden red skirt was only covering the essentials making Sasuke turn even redder. She had to stop herself from laughing out loud when she saw Rock Lee and Naruto's faces: Naruto had a nasty nosebleed and Rock Lee looked like he was about to explode he was so red.

The beat changed and she placed her feet flat on the smooth floor again, invoking another clone as she threw herself into the air before landing in the clone's hands, her legs stretched in the splits as the clone slowly lowered her to the ground before disappearing in a cloud of smoke then leaping up again, trying to ignore how high her skirt was rising and how much it revealed. She jumped into the air and bent her body backwards so that her toes touched the back of her head, hoping they wouldn't get caught in her long shimmering hair as it flowed elegantly behind her. When she landed she let her chest fall forwards, placing it lightly on the floor and noticing how far the audience could actually see down her top before picking it up again and curling her spine back, her head thrown backwards; she then quickly spun over onto her sweaty back with her head facing the public, lifting her now heavy legs into the air where they entwined themselves, stroking each other irresistibly as tears slowly seeped out of her hazel eyes and down her face into her hair. She quickly spun herself around again, pushing her torso up so that she was sitting relatively comfortably on the smooth floor; in that position she crossed her long legs before uncrossing them again, pausing for a moment with her legs apart to smile provocatively again and giving herself a strange high to see several men fidget awkwardly before she crossed her legs again on the other side. In the original choreography she had been able to repeat this several times but this time she only had time to do it twice, her chest heaving as she panted and her entire body sweating from the effort of the dance.

She repositioned herself in the centre of the stage as she heard her queue and sat in a kneeling position, both her hands held out as though offering something. In her hands a tiny yet exquisitely detailed fountain suddenly erupted, to her left a tiny flame erupted on the shining floor, to her right a plant grew with a large red flower poking out of the foliage, behind her a large sculpture developed of her mother and aunt in the process of doing the most complicated move of the dance, around her a gentle breeze fluttered her hair and cooled her down while a bolt of lightning stabbed down for a split second as the music died completely, leaving the room in surprised awe, the tears rolling down her flushed face. The curtains slid closed and Mika fell down on the shiny floor, sweat pouring off her exhausted face mixed with the distinctive running path of tears.

'_Come and stay with me…_' came the memory of Orochimaru's offer which seemed more and more comforting. She picked herself up into a sitting position, listening to the sounds of people getting up and chatting animatedly and reviewing the performance. The excited voices were mainly saying nice things but Mika wasn't listening.

'Where can I find you?' she asked in an exhausted whisper, hoping that Orochimaru was still there, still listening. She felt something gently brushing her ear, but she was too drained to react.

'_I'll find you._' came the familiar voice, this time right beside her left ear which made her slowly look over… but her eyes fell on the side of the stage. She nodded, her chest still heaving and her eyelids slowly closing over her deep brown eyes. '_Go to the edge of the village._'

Mika got to her feet shakily, following the order she had been given, too tired to change. She walked towards the escape exit she knew was hidden right at the back of backstage her feet trailing beneath her, complaining bitterly that she wasn't still sitting down. She glanced back over her shoulder at the back of the curtain which was separating her from Sasuke who was probably waiting for her just on the other side, an expectant smile on his usually moody lips, his hand still grasping the bouquet of flowers. She wanted to see him, she wanted him to go with her, but she knew that he would never go with her and would probably try to stop her. She closed her eyes as the tears started leaking out again, maybe she was just tired from the dance, maybe it was the fact that she was leaving the boy she adored… or maybe it was a combination of the sensation of being feared, powerful and alone which was forcing the tears out of her usually happy and optimistic eyes.

'I'm coming…' she whispered as she turned and pushed the hidden door open feeling the cool breeze pass over her hot face as she walked slowly out into the serene evening air. She walked through the streets of Konoha, ignoring the strange looks she was getting from passers-by, here eyes stuck to the road beneath her feet as she made her slow way to the gates of the village. Her thoughts were all muddled. Sasuke… Orochimaru… Konoha… fear… She sniffed and tried to stem the flow of tears which were still steadily falling from her eyes with the back of her hand, looking up every now and then to make sure she was heading in the right direction. Finally she glanced up and there were the gates of Konoha standing tall and daunting before her as she shivered slightly, her heat from the dance making her cold now in the chill air.

'Mika…' came a familiar voice behind her, one which automatically made the tiny hairs on the girl's neck stand on end, and her knees go weak. She closed her eyes, willing herself to be strong… she had to do this… she'd come back… wouldn't she? 'Mika…' she slowly turned around, still gazing at the ground she was standing on before looking up at his adored face, the face that she would do anything for and yet here she was… Sasuke's face looked sad and slightly disappointed. 'I followed you.' She tried to stop herself from crying but she found that it was a lot more difficult than she had expected and instead opted for the silent tears.

'I need to do this.' she said, trying desperately to keep her voice steady but failing. She watched the boy shake his head and noticed that he was still clutching the flowers he had brought for her. 'I- I'm all alone.' she continued and this time the tears were painfully obvious in her voice. Sasuke shook his head again, the disappointment seeping away slowly and disapproval gradually replacing it.

'You know you're not alone.' he said firmly, clearly trying to keep his own voice steady. 'I was alone, but you have me… you will never be alone.'

'I need to prove them wrong.' she argued but her argument sounded somewhat hysterical due to the tears now falling rapidly from her eyes and down her flushed cheeks.

'Since when do you need to prove yourself?' asked the boy in front of her taking a step closer, an incredulous expression on his handsome face. 'You are one of the most powerful shinobi in the village-'

'And people don't think I can handle it!' she cried out in frustration, her will to leave waning slightly. 'I have to prove to them that I can do it! I'm not the pathetic little girl I was before!' They stood gazing at each other for a moment, Mika's shoulders jerking a little every now and then as she continued to sob, Sasuke's face was set.

'_I'm here._'

'I love you Sasuke.' she said quickly as she felt two strong arms wrap around her waist and pick her up as though she was weightless, pulling her into nothingness. But the last image stuck in her mind, etched there as a painful reminder of her betrayal: Sasuke's desolate expression as he ran forwards with his hand outstretched, the other hand still clutching the flowers.


	11. uncertain future

Mika groaned as she woke up from a very bad night, she had a splitting headache and a foul taste in her mouth… as though she had been crying the night before. Maybe she had cried during that horrible dream she had had… she had been leaving Sasuke for some reason. Maybe she had over done it during the dance. She groaned contentedly as she stretched her arms upwards, trying to wake up her reluctant muscles with her eyes still tight shut against the headache. She stopped, frowning to herself. Had she moved the bed? Why hadn't her hands hit the wall behind her bed? Was she at Sasuke's? Suddenly she had a terrible thought: had she and Sasuke…

Mika sat bolt upright, snapping her deep hazel eyes open to find herself in a strange four poster bed in the middle of a marble room, the dark drapes obscuring her from most of the room but she could see through the gap that she was definitely not in her tiny little flat with Surplus anymore. (**It's a bit like the Wizard of Oz, isn't it? I don't think we're in Konoha anymore Surplus! Lol!!!**) She swallowed hard, trying partially to get rid of the taste in her mouth and partially to calm her now chattering teeth. Suddenly she was aware that her dream hadn't been a dream: she _had_ left Sasuke… to go to Orochimaru.

She slowly clambered to the side of the bed and peered through the gap in the drapes, taking in the room in which the bed she now found herself was in. It was a very large room with a marble floor, marble walls, marble pylons, a marble staircase leading upwards… basically, everything was in marble. She realised that the bed was positioned right in the very middle of the room, just beside a large fountain which was making happy little watery noises as her eyes passed over it. She tentatively swung her legs over the side and got out of the bed, relieved to find she was still wearing her Tikaake dancer outfit and hadn't been undressed or something as unspeakable as that. She tiptoed around the four poster bed uncertainly, apprehensive of going too far away from her area of relative safety, taking in the rest of the room while keeping one hand on the beds drapes just in case it suddenly disappeared.

'Ah! My sleeping beauty awakes!' came Orochimaru's familiar silky voice but this time it wasn't in Mika's mind, it was coming down the marble staircase. She snapped around and watched him make his way leisurely down the stone steps, his eyes glued to her and his left hand sliding along the smooth banister as he made his slow descent. 'I hope your night was pleasant.' he continued as he reached the bottom step and started making his way towards her, his snake-like eyes boring into the young girl who looked back at him defiantly.

He was smiling amicably at her as he made his way closer to the brown eyed girl, and yet she couldn't help noticing the foreboding frown which was bound to his forehead. His skin was a ghostly white and he had long black hair down to about his shoulder bladed, pale purple marking stretched over his eyes and down the sides of his thin nose, outlining his golden eyes. Mika bit her lower lip uncertainly but continued to gaze at him defiantly, unsure of whether she could trust him or not, unsure of whether he was a threat to her.

'Have you lost the will to speak, my dear?' he asked smoothly and with a little chuckle when he was about a yard away from her, coming to a stop directly in front of the nervous girl. Mika shook her head but stayed silent. 'I suppose you came here because you believe I can be of assistance to you.' She nodded silently. 'And to a certain extent,' he continued, tilting his head slightly to his right as he continued to gaze at her steadily. 'you trust me.'

'Don't be so sure of that.' she answered frostily, certain that she couldn't let him think that she was too trusting. The man in front of her chuckled to himself before taking a few more steps forward so that the two were about a couple of inches apart, close enough that she could feel his soft breathing.

'But you are willing to learn, am I right?' he asked as he leant gently forwards, bending over slightly and pushing his face towards hers lustfully so that both could feel each others breath on their faces. She knew that she should play along: from what Sasuke had told her, this guy was dangerous.

'I am a willing pupil.' she answered in little more than a whisper as she lifted her face up, bidding him to go further, her eyelids heavy over her stunning brown eyes. She saw him give a satisfied smile and felt a hand press against the small of her back, pulling her closer to him so that their bodies were pressing against each other and their noses were brushing against each others.

'May I give you a little gift?' he asked in his soft smooth voice, hypnotising Mika as she waited for the pressure on her lips, waiting for him to kiss her… but something stirred in her mind as she felt the man's face slowly make it's way down her cheek towards her neck.

'No!' she exclaimed firmly, pulling herself out of his grip and standing about a yard from him, panting a little after their little moment, but otherwise resolute. 'I refuse to let you give me a curse mark.' For a moment the pale man looked angry, but Mika held her ground and continued to glare fiercely back at him and finally he smiled again, chuckling a little at her impertinence.

'You are quite something, Mika Tikaake.' he told her after a moment, still chuckling to himself quietly. 'If I promise not to put a curse mark on you, will you accept a different gift from me?' he asked, lifting his right hand up to shoulder height in question. 'A welcoming present, if you will.' Mika thought for a moment trying to see what he was trying to do, but she could find no way that it could be a curse mark if he had blatantly said that it wasn't.

'If it's not a curse mark then what is it?' she asked steadily, still unsure of what he was up to. Orochimaru waggled his right index finger at her and made a small "tutting" noise.

'It's a surprise.' he whispered as he took a few steps forwards, bringing them to within inches of each other again. 'I promised it's not a curse mark.' he repeated with a mock hurt expression. Mika gave in, nodding her agreement defiantly as though she was a moody teenager who wanted something but had to apologize for something to get what they wanted. 'Come! We shall get your present!' he exclaimed loudly, putting his arm around Mika's shoulders and leading her away through a large wooden side door.

He lead her through a wide, very bright corridor before turning off to the left into a smaller side door which led into a very tight and dark corridor, the walls looked like they had been carved from the side of a mountain and the lights hung too far up to really light it up very well. Before long it opened out into a huge hall with an immensely high ceiling, the floor itself was covered in what looked like earth with had been flattened by centuries of feet stamping it down, the walls were draped with various tapestries of previous great shinobi and they're great works. The room itself was big enough to have housed the entire Tikaake hamlet three times over, but in Mika's opinion was nowhere near as attractive. There was a large wooden table propped up against the opposite wall covering part of a tapestry which showed the first Hokage doing his famous wood jutsu so that it looked like he had summoned the table instead of an entire forest, on the wall directly to Mika's right stood a pair of huge wooden doors with strange carvings in them and to her left the wall had what looked like various weapons on them.

'Is she ready then?' came a vaguely familiar voice from across the room. The girl looked in that direction and saw a silver haired young man leaning on the wall beside the table, his arms folded and his glasses obscuring his face a little. Mika recognised him from when she had passed her chuunin exam; he had dropped out at the last minute for reasons best known to himself and her team had thought it really selfish to his team mates.

'Indeed Kabuto.' answered Orochimaru quietly, his voice sounding strangely strained. The girl looked up at him distrustfully and saw an excited expression on his pale features, his eyes were wide and his smile was even more pronounced as he looked down at her expectantly. 'May I give you my gift now?'

'Why now?' asked Mika immediately, glancing from the young man named Kabuto back to Orochimaru with narrowed eyes. 'Why not in the first room?' Orochimaru didn't look like he was about to answer so, against her better judgement, nodded her head slowly, here eyes still narrowed suspiciously.

The pale man smiled even more widely and slowly knelt down in front of Mika, his eyes still glued to hers as she watched him in apprehensive suspicion mixed with excitement. She watched as Orochimaru put his hands gently on her hips, wondering what on earth he was going to do next and hoping it was something she wouldn't regret doing… especially in front of someone. But Kabuto didn't seem to worried about it, in fact he was inspecting his fingernails. Without her meaning to, the left side of Mika's upper lip slowly rose so that she was sneering down at the man who was so close to an area which she didn't want approached.


	12. prove yourself

Mika stared down at Orochimaru who's face was nearing her pelvis slowly, his golden eyes glued to her brown as it seemed he ignored her look of relative disgust. His eyes left hers as everything seemed to slow down, his lips pouted delicately as Mika's hands twitched nervously, wondering whether she should try and stop him but finding that she didn't really want to. Suddenly the young girl felt the older man's soft lips tenderly brush her pelvis' bone on the right hand side, just above the hem of her skirt, making her muscles clench of their own accord and the tiny hairs just above her belly button stand on end deliciously.

'Is that it?' she asked incredulously as he got back to his feet in front of her, smiling contentedly while she frowned back up at him. 'A kiss?' she glanced at Kabuto who was now watching her with a small curious smile.

'Just a kiss.' answered the pale man, still smiling mysteriously as Mika glanced from one man to the other uncomprehending. 'That's all.' Just as Mika was beginning to concede that it might just have been a kiss to see how far she would let him go, when an agonisingly vivid stabbing pain jabbed into the area where he had placed his lips delicately. Mika screwed up her face against the pain and pressed against the place with both her hands, hoping to ease it with pressure but failing as she sank to the ground crying out in frustrated pain.

'You said it was just a kiss!!!' she bellowed furiously, her face still screwed up against the pain; she heard the sound of the older man's chuckle and opened her watering eyes to see his feet shuffling in front of her, she glanced down at her stomach and saw that her skin had turned a chalky white colour. She pulled her hands away from the agonising area and saw a small rose pattern in vivid black, the same vivid black which Sasuke's mark had been making the girl close her eyes again and press her hands back on the painful area; she also noticed that her previously red skirt was now black and where the fabric had been golden it was now a deep golden red… the same colour as the main part had been. 'It's a curse mark!' she screamed, thinking for a moment that the pain had eased but finding that it was just wishful thinking.

'No it's not.' he contradicted her quietly, pleasure sounding in his smooth voice. 'It's not quite a curse mark, it's a curse marks understudy.' She heard his and Kabuto laugh a little while she continued to writhe on the earthy ground. 'Prepare yourself, Mika Tikaake, for the initiation test.'

'What the-' she began, looking up through her watering eyes only to see Kabuto airborne and heading towards her with two kunai knives in his hands and a shuriken in his mouth. She squealed out in terror and rolled over, just making it out of his path only to find him still rushing at her menacingly; she pulled her hand away from her throbbing pelvis and clenched her fist, making a large wall of water appear between her and the silver haired young man but she closed her eyes again against the hammering pain only to open them again and find Orochimaru's surprisingly large leg coming down at her with painful speed and strength.

Mika threw her hand out again, keeping the other hand still firmly pressed against her belly, and watched a spike of earth stab up between her and the man, making him leap backwards. She got to her feet shakily, trying desperately to keep her balance while the waterfall continued to shield her from the two men, and after a couple of failed attempts was able to stand on her two wobbly feet. A gap appeared in the water revealing Orochimaru's face smiling at her menacingly while she watched his hands moving swiftly in a complicated jutsu, Mika squealed again and leapt out of the way as a group of large green snakes chased her, snapping at her while she continued to spring out of the way. She growled and threw her hand up quickly followed by several large root which snaked swiftly up, fighting the summoned snakes viciously, ignoring the clearly poisonous bites and stabbing through the soft flesh of the reptiles which fell one after the other. The burning pain on her pelvis seemed to have lessened slightly and she was able to stand up straight, a ferocious expression on her young face as she picked up her left hand in a cupping position before seeing a large tongue of earth rise up in the blink of an eye and wrap around Kabuto, imprisoning him in it's muddy strength. She turned her attention to Orochimaru who was staring at Kabuto in disbelief as his silvery head flailed miserably; she took her chance and was about to do the same to him when she felt something poking into the middle of her spine.

'You're too gullible.' came a whisper in the girl's ear making the mark on her pelvis throb uncomfortably. She hiccoughed as the blade pierced her skin and a thin liquid passed through the wound, making Orochimaru smile from his position behind her.

'You're too confident.' came her voice from behind him, making him gasp and look over his shoulder only to see the girl glaring at him tenaciously. Now he was able to take in her new image, the mark hadn't changed much of her appearance other than her outfit which had gone black, and her skin had become chalky white… the same as his, and the tear streaks on her cheeks had now become vibrant black.

He leapt forwards and threw his leg out at her and watched as she dodged it messily, her arms flailing sloppily as she tried to regain balance but she was denied the opportunity by another kick from the man, aimed at her head. She blocked the attack with her arms as her teeth gritted together uncomfortably, his fist snuck through her protective barrier and hit her powerfully squarely above her navel making her bend over forwards as a splattering of blood leaked from her mouth. He gave her a moment to move backwards before he went for her again with renewed viciousness, thumping her hard in the upper arm as she tried to dodge his blow. He wondered vaguely why this was so easy when something hit him in the small of his back, making him take a step forward towards Mika who swung her left leg at him violently hitting his arm as he blocked. He watched her reach down to her right thigh and find that she didn't have her shuriken holster on her, looking back up with an apprehensive expression.

'You don't need weapons.' he said quietly, hoping that he would goad her into showing him the full extent of her power. Her expression was endearing, scared and yet defiant in the face of such an overwhelming opponent. He watched as her eyes darted over to where Kabuto was still trapped, making sure she wasn't about to be ambushed, before she gazed back over at Orochimaru silently still with her uncertain expression, her hands twitching. He ducked as he felt a fierce heat on his back, missing a huge ball of fire by inches as it sped over his head, he glanced at the girls hand and noticed that the fire was following the movement her fingers were directing. 'You're discreet.' he told her as he got to his feet again, dodging another attack from the scorching fire. 'But not discreet enough.'

She screamed as something pulled her downwards into the solid earth below her feet, thick snakes coiling around her torso and neck as she sank into the ground as her apprehensive face contorted in disgust. She growled again and lifted back out of the ground, the snakes being dragged under by slithers of root until they were completely out of sight and the girl was standing tall again on the top of a large spire of rock and looking down at Orochimaru's happy face. She flung her hands around her as a strong gust of wind flicked her long hair around her face before dropping down to the man's level and knocking him over, whipping at his entire body with agonising speed and strength making him cower for a moment. When he was finally able to get back to his feet a clap of lightning smashed to the ground in front of him and forcing him backwards, following him for a moment as he leapt backwards out of the electricity's way before it sizzled vaguely and disappeared. But a large pylon of water crashed down on the soft ground a yard or so to his left, crushing the ground it was falling onto as it launched itself at him and driving him to move.

Up on the top of her mini tower of stone, Mika controlled the movement of the elements with a small smile on her face… the same smile she had worn when she had beaten that chuunin, with the same feeling inside of perverted pleasure. Watching as Orochimaru strove to keep one step ahead of her attacks, his fast movements avoiding direct contact, but the different shapes of the elements still moving just a few inches behind him. He hesitated for a fraction of a second and was hit in the face by a thick branch which was snaking out of the ground a few yards away from him, throwing him onto the ground about three meters away from where he had been standing. He jumped to his feet in time to block a vicious attack from another piece of wood as it rushed towards him, smacking against his crossed arms and pushing him back a foot or so.

As he was battling the piece of wood he felt the ground beneath his feet tremble slightly, so gently that had he not been concentrating on it he wouldn't have noticed but he had and he was able to leap backwards as a tongue of earth leapt up in the same fashion as what had imprisoned Kabuto, and missed Orochimaru by inches. He landed messily and took a few hasty steps backwards before feeling the cold stone of the wall press against his sweaty back, his eyes darted from the root he had been battling against which was twitching ominously where he had left it, to the tongue of earth which had almost caught him and was now sort of waving aimlessly in the air before sinking back into it's original position. He was grinning to himself as he watched the girl descend on her rocky pylon, edging closer to him with the power of all these elements at her fingertips.

'You don't think.' she told him from about five yards away, a small yet haughty smile creeping onto her young lips as the man panted silently, wondering apprehensively what she was talking about.

Suddenly he realised and snapped his head down to see roots slinking silently out of the wall and sneaking around his waist and legs delicately, making sure they didn't touch him. He made a move to escape and the plant-like things tightened their strong grip, pinning him to the cold rock behind him which he could feel gently reverberating. He struggled against the things binding him as he watched thin grey slips of rock slide around him, pulling him into the wall until only his face was exposed. He made a few desperate moves to escape but found that both his hands were pressed down on either side of his body, making it impossible to make any hand signs and therefore making it virtually impossible for him to escape. He could have used one of the many forbidden jutsus he knew, but he decided that he had seen enough.

'Happy now?' she asked walking seductively towards him with a provocative and yet smug expression on her pretty young face. Orochimaru was infuriated that she had defeated him with such ease and yet delighted that she had such control over all her powers at such a young age. 'Now take back that thing you put on my stomach.' she commanded him firmly, twitching her left hand and making the stone which had enveloped him release him a little, allowing him to breathe freely. Orochimaru chuckled as he felt the things binding him let go progressively.

'I wasn't lying when I told you it was a gift.' he replied quietly in his familiar silky voice, taking a step towards her as the roots released him. She glared at him incredulously, her deep hazel eyes wide in shock as she began to understand. 'It will stay with you forever and enhance your energy into a stronger kind of power.' he noticed Kabuto still straining against his earthy prison which was still standing like a strange and slightly deformed termite hill; his face suddenly became firm. 'Release Kabuto.' he ordered decisively as the girl looked down at the ground down heartedly, her expression that of comprehensive downfall as though she was just realising that she was stuck… which she was. She closed her eyes in moderate despair and the ground incarcerating the silver haired young man fell away, setting him free to bend over and pick his glasses up before placing them on the bridge of his nose.

'That was impressive.' he said quietly as he walked over to them, rearranging him purple shirt as he did so and trying to get rid of the soil which had snuck down it. 'I didn't even have time to create a clone.' he pushed the glasses higher up his nose as he gazed from Orochimaru who's face was still hard, to the young girl who was looking defeated. She sighed.

'It was messy.' said the pale man harshly, his usually smooth and silky voice suddenly hard and unyielding. 'Had I wanted to I could have escaped from that last move.' he continued austerely as he continued to watch her steadily, waiting for a reaction but she continued to gaze down at the ground. 'Your family would be embarrassed.' he added, trying to goad her into answering. She raised her eyes to his face briefly, her face rebellious and defiant before lowering her eyes again to gaze unhappily at the earth between her feet and the two men's feet.

'If they were embarrassed then that would mean that they were alive.' she answered quietly, a definite chill in her soft voice. 'And that would mean that I wouldn't have all their powers along with mine.' There was a long pause. Kabuto glanced between Orochimaru and Mika uncertainly, wondering what the pale man beside him had planned for the powerful girl. Suddenly she looked up at the man who had been so comforting to her previously and had become so cold. 'And you have no right to speak of them that way.' she declared firmly, her face suddenly defensive and resilient as her deep hazel eyes bore into his. 'You never knew them so who are you to judge whether they would be ashamed of me or not?'

'Or maybe…' started the older man regaining his silky voice again and his usual malicious smile as she glowered at him and he smiled back down at her. 'Sasuke would be ashamed of you?' he suggested quietly, knowing perfectly well what this last statement would do to the girl. He watched her bristle in silence, her hands balling into fists in fury as she gritted her teeth at him before growling out loud in frustration and flinging her left hand out. Kabuto jumped in fear as large chunks of rock fell out of a particular area of the wall she had pointed to and fell crashing to the floor, making the ground tremble ominously but Orochimaru didn't flinch.

'He'd only be ashamed because I'm with you!' she bellowed when she looked away from the large expanse of wall which was now scattered around the ground just beneath it. 'You are the embarrassment!' The man strode forwards assertively, stopping when his face was about a foot away from hers and looked deep into her defiantly hazel eyes and watched the strange sort of fire burning deep down in her young soul. She continued to glare up at him as his hand slowly inched it's way up her right arm, reminding her agonisingly of the time Itachi had done exactly the same thing, his expression warm as he smiled down at her. 'You tricked me into coming.' she whispered in what she hoped was a menacing voice.

'The menacing voice only works if you're not enjoying what's going on around you.' answered the older man as his right hand slipped around her small waist and pulled her closer, the strange hypnotising sensation passing over her again and making her eyelids heavy again. He lowered his face so that his nose was brushing hers delicately and pushed his lips over across her left cheek so that his left cheek was brushing against her soft nose gently before he whispered in her ear. 'You came by choice.'

She hated him with a bitter loathing, she wished she could just pull away and hit him, make him hurt. She despised him because he was right.

**I would like to thank Lonely-Kitty!!! My best reader! You're so loyal!!! glomps and to all my other readers!!! You all rawk!!! mwah! mutant-bitch**


	13. another favourite

Kabuto slid the this paper door open and walked into the spacious room without a sound, trying not to disturb the two occupants as they both concentrated on the younger of the couple, he pushed his glasses a little higher up his nose and stood in the corner closest to the door, watching them silently. He looked Mika up and down as she concentrated with her deep hazel eyes tightly shut, he hadn't seen her before her transformation other than the few moments when she had accepted Orochimaru's kiss but there was no doubt that she definitely looked quite different: her long plum coloured hair had become quite a bit darker with what looked like black strands dotted here and there but he couldn't be sure, her costume had of course changed from a rich golden red colour to black which made her newly chalky white skin stand out more vividly. The tear streaks which ran elegantly down her pale cheeks seemed to leak from the contours of her eyes which looked as though someone had gone wild with a pot of eyeliner. He was reminded strongly of a red haired boy he had met when he had been sent to spy on Naruto during the chuunin exam, the small red haired kid had been from the sand village and had had the same sort of talent as Mika except that he only controlled a gourd full of sand.

'Feel it.' said Orochimaru clenching his hands into frustrated fists as the girl continued to grit her teeth, clearly just as aggravated as her new sensei… possibly even more. 'Feel the elements around you… the earth beneath your feet, the air in your lungs, the electricity in the air… you don't have to summon them… that just takes more time and energy and you have to save all the energy you can… it's all around you-'

'I know!' she growled through her gritted teeth, her eyes still firmly shut as she clearly fought a strong urge to hit the pale man in front of him. 'You _keep_ telling me.'

'I keep telling you because you keep ignoring me.' retorted Orochimaru as he took up pacing around her, watching her every move as her hands clenched and unclenched. 'You're ignoring all the sensations around you, girl!' the young girl let out a frustrated sob and let herself relax pathetically, clearly unwilling to believe that she was all he told her she was. Orochimaru sighed exasperatedly. 'What is it Kabuto?' he snapped looking over at the young man leaning against the wall in the corner.

'I have news.' he answered indifferently, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose again. 'I believe you may find this interesting.'

'Not here.' interrupted the man with the snake-like features putting his hand up to silence his follower before turning back to speak to the brown eyed girl who scowled up at him defiantly. 'You are doing very well.' he cooed as he slipped his practised hand around her apprentice waist and pulled her small body against his. 'Just keep practising.' he whispered as their faces inched closer so that they could both feel each others light breath.

'I hate you.' she whispered so quietly that she thought he might not hear her, but the look on her young face told a different story. Her eyelids were heavy as she almost invited him to press his lips against her, her mouth slightly open and her breath coming in short irregular gasps. He smiled down at her, clearly ignoring her last dialogue and his tongue delicately snaking out of his mouth and passing gently over her ear, carefully licking around the earlobe before passing briefly over her lips.

'Keep practising.' he told her quietly as he gazed at her lustful face, her closed eyes and her heavy head gently lolling slightly backwards while he held it up. 'You will be unstoppable.' he released her and watched her sway a for a moment before walking over to Kabuto who had waited patiently in his corner, watching in mild interest the short scene and now turned to follow Orochimaru out of the large room.

She watched with an expression of mild disgust as the two men disappeared down the corridor, she took a deep breath and scratched her nose in the now silent room. She didn't want to practise. She wanted to rebel so much, but when he was anywhere near her she couldn't help but try and impress him which infuriated her no end. She wanted to show him that she didn't need him, that she could do just as well without him although she knew perfectly well that she probably couldn't… but she didn't want him to know that as well.

She looked uninterestedly over at the doorway the two men had just disappeared out of and was surprised to find a young man watching her silently, bored curiosity etched into his features. He had long white hair which was pulled loosely into two bits at the front, his eyes were rimmed with what looked like the same thing as Mika except that it was red instead of black, and he had two little red spots just above his eyebrows. He gazed at the younger girl for a moment in silence as she watched him, a small inquisitive frown on her forehead before he looked away and continued on his slow, unhurried journey down the corridor. Mika made her way silently to the door and looked through it after the boy, watching him as he meandered unhurriedly along the dimly lit corridor before disappearing around the corner at the end.

Mika made her way back into her room, still frowning to herself in confusion as she resumed her previous position in the centre of the space. She could hear voices but she couldn't tell where they were coming from and they seemed quite far away. All of a sudden she was nervous, uncertain of her surroundings; this whole time she thought that she was alone in this mansion with Orochimaru and Kabu-what's his name, but this changed everything. Someone else was here… Mika had stupidly led herself to believe that she was one of a kind, that Orochimaru chose her over everyone else, but obviously not… was he the only one? Were there other people that Orochimaru had hand-picked? Other people who were talented in a way which noone else was?

'You don't look like you are practising, my Dear.' came Orochimaru's smooth voice from the doorway against which he was leaning uninterestedly. She was surprised at his entrance, she hadn't even noticed him coming in, she gazed at him disconcertedly. 'You look troubled.'

'I'm not special.' she said quietly, the prospect of being just another talented shinobi sinking in with agonising reality. 'You said I was special.'

'You are special.' he answered composedly watching her as she took a deep breath, trying to keep calm as she felt her temper beginning to bubble menacingly. 'Whatever made you think otherwise?' She scowled at him incredulously. Was he _still_ trying to pretend that she was the only on here?

'There's a boy…' she started quietly, her chest heaving as she tried to keep her temper under control. '…another boy here… I'm not the only one here.' Orochimaru watched her toil with indifference etched in his pale features. 'You said I was unique… you said-'

'What makes you think he is special?' he asked quietly, still smiling at her indifferently. 'How can you be sure this… _boy_ wasn't just a cleaning servant?'

'I could feel it. He was like me.' she said firmly, her temper suddenly seemed to have calmed down a bit. 'He was different… he was powerful.'

'Would that be Kimimaro?' asked Kabuto who had appeared shortly before but Mika had chosen to ignore. Orochimaru glanced over his shoulder uninterestedly and gave a tiny nod.

'Kimimaro?' repeated the jealous girl, because she knew that she was jealous… jealous of someone else being as special as her in Orochimaru's eyes. 'Is that his name?' she didn't know why this made any difference but for some reason it did. 'Who is he? Where does he come from? Why is he so special?'

'Would you like to meet him?' enquired the pale snake-like man smiling over at her questioningly. 'I could arrange for you to meet all my talented followers.' Mika's heart sank: there were more of them… more people to share Orochimaru's affection with. She hated them all already.

'Maybe, when Mika is a little more… _practised_' Kabuto started, taking due care and attention to find the right words. 'you could arrange a small demonstration.' Mika hated Kabu-what's-his-name too at that moment and tried desperately to let him see that, but Orochimaru seemed to like that idea because his face lighted up with enthusiasm and anticipation.

'I believe that is a splendid idea Kabuto.' he said excitedly, gazing happily at Mika's resentful expression as she scowled at both men. 'Do you consent?' he asked, finally giving Mika a moment to stop this dumb idea.

Unfortunately he stepped forwards, pressing the girls body against his and lowering his face so that he could smell her sweet scent and feel her soft breath coming in irregular gasps. She desperately wanted to say that she didn't want to fight anyone else… she wanted to tell him that it was a dumb idea… but her eyelids were getting heavy again as the familiar sensation of lust took over her young impressionable body and mind. She tried to screw up her face and say something but the only words which seemed to be able to escape the cavern of her slightly open mouth were:

'Oh Orochimaru…'

'I'll take that as a yes.' came his debonair voice as she felt him hold her up, carrying most of her weight as her knees buckled repeatedly and her arms lost all feeling. 'I must go now and arrange it all, and you my Dear must continue your training.' she opened her deep hazel eyes to gaze up at him smiling down at her, triumph on his pale face. 'Kimimaro is not one to be reckoned with, however I believe that with enough training we could have an interesting match on our hands.' He began to release her, forcing her to take her weight again as he pulled away progressively all the while making sure not to break the strange hypnotic aura around both of them.

As he strode out of the room again, swiftly followed by Kabuto, his mind was stuck on that strange aura which seemed to surround him when he and Mika were close. He knew that it affected her more than him, and he'd been taking advantage of that, but it seemed to be getting stronger and affecting him more than it had previously. What if she found out about it and was able to reverse it? What if she found a way of hypnotising him without him knowing it, the way he was doing to her? She could overthrow him with agonising ease… get him killed… he knew she resented him for lulling her into a false sense of security… for tricking her. He had after all separated her from Sasuke whom she adored, but he couldn't have passed up this once in a lifetime chance of having such a powerful ninja on his side, doing his bidding… possibly even adoring him as much as she adored Sasuke. But she was powerful, he was very aware that even if she wasn't. She was dangerous. And she disliked him greatly.

And that unsettled him.


	14. rescue party

'She's with him though! I watched him take her away!' shouted Sasuke at the unhelpful room of which only Kakashi would look at him. They all seemed to think that Mika had chosen to leave, but Sasuke was sure that she had been hypnotised or something. He knew Mika too well to believe the rumours that she had been working with him since the very beginning. 'We HAVE to _help_ her!'

'Calm down Sasuke.' said the Hokage soothingly, trying to get a bit of silence as he massaged his aching temples. He took a deep breath as the young Uchiha glared at them all incredulously. The room was full of jonins, Anbu black ops and other talented shinobi from the village, all waiting for orders from the Hokage. But he was reluctant to send his best shinobi on a mission which had no good prospects; if he was certain of being able to get Mika back then he would send them all at the drop of a hat, however all the signs led to the conclusion that the young girl had gone willingly.

'It would be unwise to send all your finest warriors just to try and retrieve a silly girl.' said Kurenai reasonably, looking from the now livid genin to the Hokage. Everyone in the room knew she was right, but she was a very powerful girl and would be a very important asset to the strength of the village, dissuading other nations from attacking them: The Hidden Leaf Village would be unbeatable.

'But she's an important addition to our forces.' retorted Kakashi politely from behind his adult book, trying not to sound to involved and yet pushing to try and help the young girl who was so friendly. 'She would be of great influence in, say a war.' he added, looking over the top of the book straight at the woman with the stunning scarlet eyes.

'And it might be more cunning to have her as a friend rather than as an enemy.' added Gai who was leaning his forehead on his fist which in turn was resting on his knee. 'Because if she could be an asset to us, the most influential country of all, then imagine what she could do to another country. We'd be rivalled, and not necessarily in a friendly way.' he glanced over at Kakashi meaningfully only to find the silver haired man with his nose back in his book.

'An Asset?' asked Sasuke angrily, glaring around the room at all the present shinobi. 'This is my best friend you're all talking about! The last remaining member of the Tikaake clan, and a really nice girl!' he continued, his voice rising ominously. 'There's more to her than just her strength you know?!' everyone in the room lowered their gaze to the floor awkwardly, uncomfortable that they had been speaking about a girl who had lost her entire family and who's only friend had been Sasuke.

'Alright. I have come to a decision.' said the Hokage haughtily, lifting his hands in the air for silence which he already had. Every person in the room waited with baited breath for the result, Kakashi lowered his book, Gai closed his eyes as he remained in his previous position, Kurenai frowned resolutely, sticking to her guns. Sasuke could hardly breathe, and when he did manage it came in short rasping gasps while his teeth gritted uncomfortably; he didn't care if they were going to help or not, he knew that he would go alone if he had to. 'I will send a small party after the girl, but not all of my strongest shinobi. I will send Hatake Kakashi, Maito Gai, Anbu squad three and Kakashi your team are allowed to accompany them if you wish.'


	15. unrecognised memories

Mika followed Koba… Kabo… Kabu…what's his name along another dimly lit corridor, her now usual frown adorning her pale forehead as she watched the young man walking ahead of her. She felt awkward in the stony silence around them, the only noise being the sound of their feet slapping against the uneven stone floor.

'Umm, I'm sorry but I don't think I caught your name.' she said tentatively, so quietly she wondered vaguely whether he could hear her. She was about to repeat herself when he answered, making her cheeks burn crimson.

'Sorry, I was away with the fairies there!' he answered looking over his shoulder and smiling amicably at the brown eyed girl. 'My name is Kabuto, it doesn't surprise me that you didn't catch it! Lord Orochimaru was reluctant to… well, let's just say he wanted you all for himself.' Mika was confused, and Kabuto could see so. 'That's why he didn't tell you that you're not the only one here. He's the type that gets quite jealous, even though he changes favourites very often!' he finished with a small laugh.

'Favourites?' asked Mika curiously catching up to him and walking by his side, gazing up at him enquiringly. 'So I'm not the first?'

'Nope.' he answered light heartedly, smiling ahead of him as he led her down another corridor. 'And most certainly not the last! Although I think this could last a very long time.' he looked down at her curious face, the tear marks looked quite out of place on her innocent face. 'I doubt he'll get bored of you for quite a while.' Comforting as this last nugget of information was, it didn't override the fact that Mika was only a "favourite" and in Kabuto's own words would probably not be the last. She wondered how many more "favourites" were in the building at that very moment, and how many she would actually meet before Orochimaru became jealous and cut her off from the rest of the world.

'Why is he jealous?' she asked inquisitively, gazing up at the older boy who can't have been more than late teens. She could tell he was reluctant to answer her question, apprehensive that he might have already said too much.

'He feels that because you have his mark you are… how to put it?' there was a pause while the silver haired boy bit his lower lip, searching for the right way to explain her situation without putting himself or her in too much danger. 'You are basically part of his-'

'Belongings?' probed Mika infuriated at the thought that Orochimaru thought that she was nothing more than one of his play things. But Kabuto laughed.

'No! Not one of his belongings!' he said. His voice was friendly and welcoming, as though he was in fact a nice person but for some reason he had found himself with Orochimaru and thought it more interesting that going home. Mika wondered whether he was one of Orochimaru's long-running favourites and whether she might become a bit like Kabuto later on in her life. 'You are part of his Harem, maybe.' he continued, frowning to himself in the brief silence. 'Not exactly harem but you get my view, right?' she nodded.

'That might be a bit dodgy.' she said, smiling to herself as she gazed up at the older boy. He frowned down at her enquiringly. 'I saw a boy. If it was Orochimaru's harem then I think I might have to be a little worried.' she said grinning up at him and waiting for him to grasp her little joke. After a moment it sank in and the boy in the purple shirt laughed loudly at her sense of humour before turning off down a very short corridor which stopped at a pair of large stone doors. He knocked and the doors slid open with a lid crunching noise, Kabuto indicated that she should enter which she did before hearing the doors close again behind her.

She took a moment to take in the adequately sized room in which she now found herself: it was a lot lighter than most for one thing and she could see two large glass windows on the opposite wall letting in the evening sunlight, there was a table in the centre of the space, big enough for about six people but no more and it was made for two. The walls were painted a pastel shade of blue and there were one or two portraits on the wall of people Mika didn't recognise. She made her way to the table and inspected the food, realising with a sudden pang just how hungry she actually was. There were several kinds of meat, fish, sushi (which she wasn't too fond of but she knew how expensive it was), vegetables, and fruit dotted here and there. The table was so laden with food that there was hardly any space for the cutlery.

'Ah, you look stunning my Love.' came Orochimaru's voice from behind her making her a little uncomfortable as she whipped around to see him standing hidden in the corner, contemplating her silently. 'I trust you are hungry after such a gruelling day.' He indicated a chair and held it out for her as she sat down awkwardly. 'Please, go ahead. Eat, eat to your fill!' he said jovially, holding his hands out in what looked like a welcoming gesture but was in fact offering her all the food.

'Please, after you.' she said quietly, trying to resist the gorgeous looking food which could have been poisoned. Her stomach grumbled menacingly, trying to blackmail her into just grabbing whatever was closest and sinking her teeth into it. She hadn't eaten since the lunch before her dance which had been the day before and now it was evening she was almost faint with hunger.

'Do you still not trust me Mika?' he asked in a mock hurt tone, looking at her as he sat down on the other empty chair which had a plate in front of it. 'As you wish, if I die of poisoning then you may say that I was untrustworthy.' he conceded in what might have been a good-humoured tone but to Mika it sounded dishonest and sly. He reached for a plate of sushi and put some onto his plate before reaching for his chopsticks and putting a piece in his mouth. He stopped for a moment, smiled at Mika provocatively before chewing and swallowing.

As soon as she saw his Adam's apple moving to allow him swallow she grabbed the nearest pear and bit into it, feeling the sticky juice trickle down her chin and onto her chest before seizing the closest plate of meat and taking large bites out of it. She dropped the meat and pulled a plate of carrots towards her, stuffing two in her mouth while her mouth was still half full of meat and pear. She swallowed hard and reached for a cup which looked as though it was made of metal but she didn't care, she gulped down several mouthfuls before moving on to a bowl of rice which was just in reach, chopsticks lying unused she shovelled the small white grains into her mouth and swallowed without chewing. Suddenly she remembered Orochimaru still watching her, she snapped her head up and scowled at him defiantly as he smiled at her, looking delighted that she was stuffing her young face with his food. She sat up straight and tried to look dignified as she padded at her mouth with a napkin, noticing just how sticky she really was. She looked up when she heard the man laughing quietly.

'I hear you have favourites.' she said mainly to stop him laughing at her. 'Do you have many girls?' she asked, trying to think of something at least half decent to ask him and finding that she had no inspiration whatsoever. 'Or do you think girls are inferior too?' she finished, thinking mainly of her late older brother whom she held in great esteem.

'I believe talent is equal, whether it be in a female or a male.' he answered simply, watching Mika over the expanse of food between them. 'I feel that if someone has talent which I can… help them with, then gender is unimportant.' There was a pause, Mika pulled a different type of meat towards her and placed a slice on her plate elegantly, taking a few vegetables at the same time. 'However, on occasion when a male and female have the same talent I have found that the male can yield it with more impressive control.'

'Who have you seen?' asked Mika frostily, feeling personally victimised. 'I was better than my brother, wasn't I? My aunt was better than my uncle and she wasn't even born with the power.'

'I worked with both a brother and a sister.' he answered gently, still gazing steadily at the girl as she continued to eat enthusiastically. 'And I have to admit that the sister was quite a disappointment, whereas the brother is indeed impressive.'

'You say "is" about the brother.' she pointed out with her mouth slightly full. 'Does that mean he's still about? What about the girl?'

'The girl passed away at the hands of her brother, which didn't surprise me at the time and doesn't surprise me now.' he replied, linking the fingers of his hands and leaning his chin on them to watch her in more comfort. She didn't seem to react to this information. 'She was definitely a disappointment, to me and to her family.' Mika glanced up at him, wondering why he had paused before going back to her plate with renewed vigour. 'The brother however is still going strong and I believe going from strength to strength, coming up against noone who can defeat him, although I'm sure you could give him a run for his money.' She still hadn't grasped who he was talking about and he decided that she was a lot more interested in what was on her plate than what he was talking about.


	16. confused desires

**BEWARE!!!! This chapter has almost adult bits towards the end! Don't worry it's nothing too vivid… the girl IS only 13 after all, but it is a bit grown up so if you're not too happy with mature stuff then when you get to the bit where I say : DODGY then you skip that bit, okay? I will do a mini recap at the end so you don't miss too much!**

Mika stood in the doorway taking in the spacious room she was to sleep in, the four-poster bed against the wall to her left and pushed up into the corner, the window at the opposite end with what looked like an empty desk which had a view out, the door on the last remaining wall which Kabuto had said led to an en-suite bathroom. It was strange how Orochimaru never did any of the tedious chores like showing Mika around and making sure she didn't get too lost.

She gazed at the bed, the dark yet fluffy-looking bedding, the curtains pulled back with thick pale ropes which resembled strangely the rope around Orochimaru's waist making Mika smile at the idea of the powerful snake man being a cheap skate. Suddenly she felt a pang of longing for her cat, Surplus who had been left behind and who was probably wondering where she was, mewing pitifully just outside her door the way he did when she came home late. It wasn't that he couldn't get in because Mika always left the tiny bathroom window open for him to get in and out of at his pleasure, but her neighbour had complained because he would mew for hours while he waited for her.

'Ain't got none.' she whispered miserably, hoping that somehow he might be able to know that she was thinking of him, telling him she loved him. She thought of the time she hadn't come home one evening and the next morning she found him sitting patiently outside the door, mewing faintly before running at her and entwining himself around her ankles affectionately; she remembered the time she had forgotten to feed him and he had woken her up with a gentle purring noise the next morning, delicately letting her know that he was hungry; she remembered the time he had fist met Sasuke…

'Sasuke.'

It felt nice to say the familiar name again, even though she was alone and he was miles away… probably wondering why she had left. She hoped he could feel that she was thinking about him. She sighed deeply and walked over to the bed before sitting down on it, crossing her legs and slumping over her lap, gazing around the room which was so much bigger than her room in Konoha. She felt homesick.

Since her lesson that afternoon with Orochimaru, during which he had repeated over and over again that she had to "feel it", she had found that she was paying more attention to things around her, her surroundings. She could feel the air moving around her as she pushed through it, she could feel the earth far beneath her and the rock which had built the walls, she could sense the electricity in the air far above, signalling a storm coming. Somehow she felt more at home with the powers which had caused her so much trouble, finding that if she did pay attention to them then they were perfectly friendly… even affectionate to her. She could feel things moving ON the earth below her, she could feel feet walking along the wooden planks on a level below her, she could feel someone breathing in and out… just outside her door.

'Stop hiding outside.' she said loudly, still unsure of who it might be but she had an idea that it was Orochimaru. She scowled over at the wood of the door as it slowly creaked open, obscuring her view of the person coming in but she could just make out a few fingers pushing the door open. 'You're pathetic.' she spat quietly, partially hoping that he didn't hear. 'Were you waiting for me to fall asleep or what?'

'What would you have me do to you while you sleep?' came his familiar sly voice from just out of view. The sound of his tone, the vibrations on the breeze gave Mika a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach… something which she had only ever got with Sasuke, and yet it was somehow different from when she was with Sasuke: it was more grown up, more mature. For some reason she smiled to herself, imagining what he might _want_ to do to her.

'Be creative.' she said provocatively before she could stop herself. The moment the words had passed her lips she smacked her hands to her mouth, a look of shock and utter terror on her pretty young face. She looked up in shock, her hands still pressed against her lips, as Orochimaru appeared around the door with a inciting eyebrow raised at her.

'Aha…' he said quietly barely above a whisper as he made his way around the door, letting it close on it's own while he kept his golden eyes glued to the young girl's appalled face. 'You have an suggestion, my Love? I apologize, I never was very good with ideas.' Mika let her hands slowly lower away from her mouth, scowling over at the man disbelievingly.

'I don't believe you.' she told him firmly as he sat down on the downy bedclothes about half a yard away from where she was sitting cross-legged. 'You make up jutsus.' she said hoping that she was right: she had heard stories about very powerful shinobi who made up their own jutsus.

'Well I don't think you had jutsus in mind.' answered the older man raising his eyebrows as he inspected his hands, keeping a watchful eye on the brown eyed girl's reaction. He smiled when he saw her blush beetroot and look away self-consciously. He knew that she was better developed than most youngsters her age due to her three year gap during which she was under the impression that she was two and a half years older than she really was, she was aware of what went on behind closed doors… maybe she had even partook. 'Sasuke wouldn't do anything, would he?' he asked quietly, trying to sound sympathetic and feeling proud of the effect.

'No.' she mumbled uncomfortably, still looking away with a blank expression on her young face. She shook her head gently before looking back up over at him steadily, asking for sympathy.

It was so easy, Orochimaru was unwilling to believe she was sincere: she could be almost as sly as him when she wanted to be… but the expression in her stunning hazel eyes was genuine. She leaned forwards, almost offering herself to him, her eyelids heavy again in lust and what must have been the effects of the strange hypnosis which surrounded them both. Should he do it? It was proving agonisingly difficult to resist the hypnosis around them, but Orochimaru was wary. Was she doing this? Was it all her doing? She was still looking at him, staring deep into his snake-like eyes with her gorgeous chocolate ones which seemed to be sucking him in, bringing him closer. She bit her lower lip uncertainly, making her almost irresistibly innocent and unsure of herself, and those eyes… they dropped for a moment as she shuffled elegantly closer, inviting him to reciprocate as her eyes lifted again to look right into his…

Their lips brushed for a moment, their eyes still open as they both wondered what they were doing for a moment, but soon enough the girl let her heavy eyelids droop over her stunning iris'. She didn't want to be doing this… she wanted to push him away… she knew she should pull away… it was her fault… she had invited him… not the other way around. She hated herself for doing this… doing this behind Sasuke's back. She felt him gently pass his warm tongue over her lips and she let her lips part slightly, once again inviting him to do his bidding. As their tongues met, moving in an delicate yet perverse twisting motion she was taken over with an acute desire to do something she knew she would regret.

** DODGY **

She lifted herself onto her knees and pushed herself against the older man, pushing their mouths against each others roughly and putting her hands behind the back of his head, running them through his long black hair. She felt him holding himself up with his hands, preventing himself from falling backwards with his hands before pushing back vigorously, placing his hands on her back roughly. She frowned to herself as she scrabbled at the front of his shirt, trying to force it to come off and only managing to rip it, she briefly separated her lips from his to inspect the damage and caught a glimpse of his lustful expression, the ever present frown adorning his pale forehead as he passed his experienced hands over her waist. She looked down at her stomach as Orochimaru's finger played erotically with the strap which held her skirt up, pulling it down further and further before letting it spring back up to it's original position, gazing at her in desire.

She tried to pull him back into another kiss but he stopped her, instead he inched his face closer to hers agonisingly slowly before coming to a halt about half an inch away from her plump red lips. He let the tip of his tongue slip out from between his smiling lips and relished the look of anticipating desire on the girl's young face. Mika waited for him to slink it into her mouth to entwine it with hers in the same manner as before, but he didn't move; she waited with baited breath but it never came. She opened her mouth slightly, hoping that this would incite him to go further, letting her tongue show a little between her lips but his tongue didn't move. She closed her mouth again and looked up at the man's eyes dubiously, angry that he had kept her waiting at all, but he gave her a meaningful look and she watched as the tongue slowly began to move again. But it wasn't heading anywhere near her mouth.

He watched in intense desire as she took a sharp intake when his tongue made contact with her soft tummy skin, an adorable expression of mingled fear and disgust on her pretty face as she watched it's progress. He felt her muscles clench deliciously beneath the warm brushing touch of his tongue as he moved it delicately up and down her tummy, watching her expression change from disgusted fear to nervous desire. She hiccoughed slightly as he slipped his long tongue between her skirt and her skin, moving it confidently down… He looked up at her face, silently asking for permission. She glanced from his face down to where his tongue was and back again, her expression that of terrified uncertainty.

Mika nodded shakily and let Orochimaru lie her down gently, lying above her in her fluffy bed in that strange mansion so far away from the boy who had denied her this…

**Basically, Mika asked for it. She was willing but she felt really horrible about it while she was doing it. She wishes that Sasuke had done this instead of this snakey dude. Sorry this chapter was so damn freaky! 3**

**I'd like to say hiya and thanks for reading toooo… Lonely-Kitty and Crazy-lil-chipmunk… you both rawk!!!**


	17. explanations

Kabuto walked down one of the few brightly lit corridors, passing the doors of various rooms of innumerable previous "favourites" as he had put to Mika. Occasionally he would pass a door which had been painted a different colour to the others, letting him know that someone was in long-term residence; but the occupants weren't in at that time, they were probably out training as they spent most of their time doing… trying to keep up with Orochimaru's demands.

He looked down at his list and sped up a little, realising that he was actually on the wrong floor: the room he was looking for was on the floor above… closer to Orochimaru's room. He pushed his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose as he took the stairs two at a time, still looking up and down his list and not noticing the small figure curled up on the top step. He did a double take and realised it was Orochimaru's latest favourite, Mika Tikaake, staring blankly into space in front of her with her right hand over her mouth and a small confused frown on her forehead. She didn't seem to have noticed Kabuto standing there.

'Err, Mika?' he asked uncertainly, bending over to get a better look at her expression which was unchanged. 'Are you alright Mika?' he asked lowering himself to his knees to be as close to his level as he could manage without sitting down. 'Mika?' he repeated snapping his fingers next to her cheek, making her jump and look up at him apprehensively, pulling her hand away from her lips.

'Sorry…' she mumbled, her hands wringing together nervously as she gazed down at them. 'I guess I was away with the fairies.' she continued with a small tentative giggle as she repeated Kabuto's words from the day before.

'What's on your mind?' asked the friendly older boy, shuffling a little in his position as his left foot developed pins and needles. 'Is it the fight Orochimaru's planning between you and Kimimaro? Because if it is then there's no need to sweat too much.' he said quickly hoping to fix the girl and then get on with his rounds.

'No, it's not the fight.' she answered with a meek giggle, clearly forced. She took a deep breath and blushed crimson, clearly trying to do something against her better will. 'Last night… Orochimaru visited me.' she said slowly, making long pauses between each word. _Oh no._ thought the silver haired young man to himself. _Here we go again. This always happens._

'How do you mean, "he visited you"?' he asked uninterestedly, this wasn't the first time this had happened… but he was a little surprised that she had given in to him so quickly: most of the people who had let him have his way with them had gone to him, not vice versa; and she didn't seem to like him all that much, let alone enough to let that happen to her. Plus she was surprisingly young, so she can't have had much experience.

'He came to my bedroom last night.' she snapped short temperedly, but her expression over-rode the snappish tone: she was insecure, nervous. 'He… well, we…' there was a long pause while she blushed beetroot and tried to find words to describe without too much detail what had happened. 'Kissed.' she said swallowing hard. _Was that it? Orochimaru usually a LOT more than that._

'And?' pressed the young man, deciding that she wasn't telling him everything. Her blush intensified: he was right, more had happened last night than just some innocent kissing.

'He… his… umm, his tongue…' she stammered quietly, almost inaudibly as she fiddled with her revealing skirt nervously. 'He… on top of me… and… umm… err…' he wasn't getting very far, but he had an idea of what may have happened.

'Did he force you to do something?' he asked comprehensibly, trying to sound sympathetic but simply trying to get the secret out. She shook her head slowly, her long hair falling across her flushed face, her eyes staring at the stairs below them. _What? He hadn't forced her?_ 'Did he… sleep with you?' he asked, trying to find a word which wouldn't make her even more uncomfortable.

'I'm thirteen, Kabotu!' she exclaimed loudly and snapping her head around to stare at him with a scandalised expression. 'No! Ew…' she added looking back down the stairs again with an incredulous look on her young flushed face.

'It's Kabuto.' he prompted, trying not to feel offended as he grimaced discreetly. 'And I apologize, but I just expected that and thought that you might be having trouble admitting it.'

'Why were you expecting it?' she asked quickly, looking over at him again with curious anger in her deep brown eyes. 'It's happened before, hasn't it? With one of his _favourites_.' she continued when she realised that he wasn't going to answer. They sat in companionable silence for a moment before she buckled up, clutching her stomach and growling in pain, her face screwed up against it.

'He's calling you.' said Kabuto indifferently without looking at her as she writhed beside him. 'He's in the big training area at the far end.' he told her as she sat up again, inspecting her mini curse mark and breathing heavily, moaning a little occasionally and making the young man feel quite awkward. 'Walk to the end of this corridor, down the stairs and to the end of that on in the same direction.' he explained unenthusiastically, pointing down the hall he had to walk down. Mika nodded up at him, still breathing heavily and wincing a little as she gingerly prodded her sore tummy.


	18. teach me

'Now, Mika darling-'

'I'm not your darling.' she spat without looking at Orochimaru who was standing just behind her, his hands on the top of her upper arms as though he was directing her in that direction.

'You're not all that good with jutsu, are you?' he continued as though he hadn't heard what the girl had said, or at least that he was ignoring it. She didn't say anything, sore at the knowledge that she had always been best at defensive dodging rather than attacking. 'So I'm going to teach you some very interesting and useful jutsus.'

'You mean forbidden.' she interrupted, still acting as though he wasn't right behind her instead opting to stare directly ahead of her where a large bulls-eye stood propped up against the wall.

'You're in a very bad mood today.' commented the older man without withdrawing his hands and smiling slightly to himself at her cheek. 'You shouldn't be… after last night.'

'You took advantage of me.' she snapped, suddenly scowling at the bulls-eye as though it had personally insulted her. 'I have every right to be in a bad mood.'

'You wanted it as much as I did, Mika, and you know it.' he said bluntly, removing his hands from her bare skin and making his way unenthusiastically around her to stand directly in front of the girl who glowered up at him rebelliously. 'You may even have been _more_ willing than I.' The brown eyed girl looked away still scowling in the knowledge that he was right yet again. 'Do as I do.' he finished looking steadily at the rebellious young girl as she glanced up at his face unwillingly but when the sannin put his hands into a hand sign she mimicked obediently.

He did the dog snake bird tiger signs in quick succession, glancing up to see if she was following which she was before there was a faint puff of smoke and both shinobi had switched places. Mika's eyes widened in surprise as she looked around inquisitively, wondering if they had teleported somewhere but found the familiar surroundings of the training area.

'A reversal jutsu?' she asked incredulously, looking over at him with an sceptical expression. 'Are you serious?' Orochimaru didn't say anything. 'Is that your big forbidden jutsu? A dumb reversal thing? I was expecting something a bit more exciting than that… I already knew that one!'

'Then why didn't you recognise it?' he asked finally, cutting across the girl's angry monologue. 'I am aware that you know this jutsu, but I simply thought that you would benefit from a reminder.'

'I… well… I didn't recognise it because I was expecting a different jutsu.' she stuttered angrily, by this time scowling at her new sensei. 'I thought you were going to teach me something new… not some crappy reversal. I thought it was going to be some… random… reincarnation… to the… umm… impure… w-world… or something.' she said quickly, trying to make up the dumbest name she could think of.

'That will come later.' answered Orochimaru quietly, aware that she didn't realise that she had just mentioned a very powerful jutsu. 'First we have to get the basics perfect, and for that you will need to know the most basic jutsu which will be of great use to you because most qualified shinobi don't expect them. They only ever use very complicated and difficult jutsu, while they forget the most important.'

Five hours later they had covered all of the academy jutsus including clones and transformation, they had seen shadow clones, reversals and substitution jutsus… and Mika had had enough. She was torn between boredom and exhaustion and wondered how on earth that was actually physically possible. She transformed into a perfect copy of Kabuto even though she couldn't see him, watched Orochimaru wave his hand dismissively and changed back into herself with a look of incredulous frustration.

'Show me the person you most want to see.' he said unenthusiastically, his expression bored as the young girl dropped her gaze to the floor to think. She wanted to see Sasuke… but she wanted to see Yama too… and Mizu… and Keamon… Orochimaru knew that it would be a difficult decision for the girl with the plum coloured hair, and half expected her to look back up at him with a furiously frustrated expression and tell him that she couldn't choose. But she didn't.

'Transform!' she cried screwing up her face in concentration and putting her hands into the tiger hand sign, disappearing in a cloud of smoke. He waited anxiously as the smoke slowly dispersed to reveal an old lady in her slippers with her dark grey hair pulled back in a tight bun and her eyes all scrunched up as she frowned over at the older man who gazed back curiously.

'Who is this then?' he asked smoothly, hiding his curiosity sufficiently to throw the girl off a little.

'This is my grandmother.' answered the old woman who was in fact a young girl, her voice was shaky and yet intense as it pierced through the air like a needle. 'I was always her favourite because I was her only female grandchild.' she continued loudly without moving forwards. 'I want to see her the most because that would mean that she was still alive, and that would mean that everything was back the way it was before.'

'No it wouldn't.' retorted the snake-like man blankly, still watching the old woman steadily as she glowered at him viciously. 'It would mean that she had survived Itachi's assault. She had escaped.'

'My grandmother would never have deserted my clan.' came the severe voice with a faint accent, stabbing at the older man's eardrums. 'She would have fought till the end… that's what she did. She died for her clan, and that's why if she was alive then they all would be.' There was a long silence in the spacious room, the two occupants staring at each other from across the expanse of empty silence, one's eyes full of curiosity the other's full of dislike. There was another puff of smoke and Mika was back in the room, staring angrily at Orochimaru. 'And that would mean that I wouldn't be here.'

'You're perfectly free to leave.' answered the man with the ghostly white skin, watching the girl's rebellious expression and taking care to keep his neutral if a little sinisterly playful.

'No I'm not, so don't fool yourself into thinking so.' she snapped shortly, looking him up and down with disdain. There was another uncomfortably long silence. 'Teach me something decent.' she ordered firmly, making Orochimaru want to slap her for insolence… but he restrained himself: she wanted his help, she was with him, she didn't _want_ to leave.

'Fine.' he answered after a moment, sighing angrily as their eyes stayed locked. 'Have you ever heard of the "Demonic Illusion; Hell Descent Jutsu"?' he asked in a matter-of-fact tone as a perverted smile snaked across his thin lips. Across the way he watched Mika smile satisfactorily.


	19. favourite vs favourite

'Have no fear.' came the man's silky voice whispered in the girl's right ear as she gazed out upon the large expanse of the earthy field they were standing on the edge of. On the opposite side there stood the young man Mika had briefly seen a day or so ago, staring at her blankly as Kabuto told him the rules of the battle he and Mika were about to embark on. 'You are ready.' Mika Tikaake highly doubted that she was "ready" as the man had said, but she would certainly give it her best shot safe in the knowledge that Orochimaru would never let Kimimaro kill her, although she did doubt that she would be in that situation.

'I know.' she answered confidently, trying to mask her ever-present nerves. She balled her small hands into fists to stop them from shaking wildly around, her eyebrows pulled into a resolute frown on her pale forehead as Kimimaro caught her eyes for a blink of an eye. As though from miles away she could hear her sensei repeating the rules in a low voice to her, telling her about secret tactics which would help her defeat this new opponent. She watched as Kabuto stepped back from the young man across the field, checking his clipboard uninterestedly and making his way over to a couple of seats where Mika could see a couple other spectators watching curiously.

'I have no interest in you dieing.' came the man's voice again, suddenly perfectly clear to the young girl as she continued to scowl resolutely over at her adversary. 'But try and do as you will to the boy.'

The moment those last words had slipped past the man's thin lips, an intense feeling of bestiality came across the young girl, making her want to pull her opponent apart limb from limb, see him beaten: he wasn't as good as she was… he wasn't worthy of Orochimaru's affections, unlike her. She was the only one worthy of Orochimaru's interest, his smile, his teaching. She ran forwards as the young man opposite her did the same, crying out in pleasure at a chance to prove themselves in front of an audience. As they neared the centre of the field she watched as the boy's arms turned from hands into long, white, deadly sharp spikes which he thrust at her with agonising precision, jabbing at her body where he knew her vital organs lay hidden by the girl's chalk-white skin and young tummy. She elegantly twisted her waist around in one of the many Tikaake dance moves, thanking her lucky stars that she knew it, before jabbing her own hand up and telling a number of roots which were dormant just below the boy to leap up and throw themselves at Kimimaro. The branch-like roots slapped at the boy's body viciously, leaving angry slashes where they had ripped the skin, before being sliced away effortlessly by the white haired boy who glowered at the brown eyed girl who glowered back. They circled each other for a moment before he threw out his left hand which morphed into a lance-like spear, thrusting it at Mika who parried it with a swipe from a pylon of water which then raced towards her opponent, concealing him for a moment.

She frowned through the faint mist her waterfall had created, straining her eyes to see what had become of him… whether she had crushed him yet. But instead she saw a white shell shielding him from everything outside, including whatever she threw at him. As she watched it slowly opened and the boy stood up, still scowling menacingly at her while the bone from almost every bone in his body receded, leaving him in his original form. She scowled back as she began to realise why Orochimaru said that this would be an interesting fight, and why he had said to "try and do" what she would with him: it was easier said than done. He made a few quick hand movements and several clones appeared by his sides, all glaring at Mika as they began to make their ways slowly towards her. She could feel them moving as the earth he had used to create them contorted elegantly to do his bidding, but she made a brushing movement with her left hand and they all fell to the ground, regaining their original form of small mounds of earth.

'You clearly don't know what you're up against.' she told him in a low menacing voice as she gave him a tiny provocative smile. He didn't even glance down to inspect what had once been his clones, but simply smiled back at the girl darkly.

'Neither do you.' he answered forebodingly, he lifted up both his hands and raised an eyebrow while his lips returned to their neutral positions. Mika narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she watched Kimimaro's hands slowly elongate and become what looked like thick, razor-sharp blades from about his elbow down. Her eyes widened again as she realised that he was somehow making his own bones change shape, making them become weapons. She squealed as he slowly put his hand over his shoulder and gradually pulled out what looked like his spine, vertebra by vertebra. She ducked just in time to miss the lasso-like bones as they lashed out at her, she commanded the air around her to solidify therefore protecting her against the next attack but it was hard work keeping the air solid and she knew she wouldn't last long. She felt the long rope of bone slash at her protective cocoon viciously, making her grind her teeth with effort before letting the air go and instructing a large inferno to cover the boy, burning everything it touched. She got back to her feet as the flames smashed angrily around the boy whom she could no longer actually see, but she knew better now than to let her guard down and sure enough out of the blaze came a spear-like bone with what looked like a hand at the end.

She fought valiantly against the hand thing, but somehow it managed to wrap itself around her waist and pulled her into the inferno which she had created. She told the flames not to burn her and felt the heat diminish dramatically, instead licking at her skin affectionately and making her hair float around her deliciously. She winced in pain as the bone around her waist tightened suddenly, making her fiddle desperately with the bonds holding her and slowly getting tighter, she could see where the boy was sitting protected from the flames by the same thing he had used earlier. She suddenly had an idea and cried out in pain as she was squeezed even tighter before clenching her right fist, imploring the soil beneath him to engulf him in his little defensive cover. She let the flames die away gradually, as she prayed her idea would work, the rope of bone squeezing ever tighter and a small trickle of blood snaked down her chin from her gritted teeth.

Suddenly the bone released it's grip on her and the shelter around Kimimaro leapt open, leaving Mika to fall to her knees and the young man in front of her fight off the oncoming earth, which was ferociously trying to engulf him. He had changed colour now from what Mika could see through the scorched grass and the smoke and the dust flying around, his skin was now a sort of dull brown and his eyes had somehow changed, although the young girl couldn't quite put her hand on how. She spluttered and spat out the blood in her mouth, wiping the residues from her chin and getting to her feet again with a resilient frown, discreetly making sure her skirt was still hiding everything important and vaguely wishing she could change.

She ordered a lightning bolt to crash down, but it missed the boy who was still dodging the ground while it tried desperately to swallow him, slashing at it with the blades ha had for hands. She swiped her left fist around and watched as the air around Kimimaro enclosed on him, forcing him to stop and be overwhelmed by the mud which slunk around him in a powerful twist, covering every last inch of his body other than his head which stuck out like an awkward thumb. Mika relaxed for a moment, relishing in the sensation of victory which was already pumping up and down her small body, taking over from the adrenaline which had previously been keeping her going. But it was short lived. With a growl of frustration, one of Kimimaro's blade-like hands smashed through his solid earthy prison which had been incarcerating him, but now lay crumbled on the ground at his feet.

'I told you…' he growled, his chest heaving from the effort and his eyes full of anger and frustration. 'You don't know who I am.' The young girl brushed her long plum coloured hair out of the way and glared back ferociously, trying to mimic his look of anger. 'You don't know what I can do.'

'Neither do you.' she answered darkly as she bent her knees a little to gain a bit more balance. She blinked and the next thing she knew Kimimaro was throwing his spine at her again, wrapping it around her shoulders this time and stopping her from using her arms… what he was unaware of though was that she didn't need her arms. She growled and gritted her teeth as she dug her heels into the ground, holding herself away from him for as long as she could before he dragged her towards him. She commanded the roots below the surface between the two fighters to rise and hold onto the rope of bones binding her, making sure that he couldn't pull her to him, and the roots below Kimimaro to bind him.

They both scowled at each other menacingly. Both wanted to win, both wanted to show off their power to Orochimaru, show him they were worthy of his recognition. But one wanted to be his main favourite again, the other wanted to stay that way. It was a battle for favouritism, a battle for love, a battle for recognition. As Mika thought about it, why did she want to stay his favourite? Why was she so intent on being recognised and loved by the snake-like man sitting a safe distance away from where the two young shinobi and their powers were wrestling. Periodically she felt the bones around her shoulders pull a little tighter, making her groan and wince a little, in turn ordering the roots around Kimimaro to constrict a bit more and watching his face pull a little. Why was she fighting so hard for something she knew she would probably have anyway, and why did she _want_ it anyway? But for some reason she was, and she wasn't about to let the boy opposite her win and replace her in Orochimaru's affections. She suddenly remembered how Yama had always said that she was useless, that because she was a girl she would never be as good as he was.

In front of her she saw Kimimaro holding his hand up and the blade turning into a long spear with an arrow-like point at the end. She growled as the bone around her shoulders tightened again, before acting. All in less than a blink of an eyes, she ordered the roots around the rope of bone to pull it downwards, the roots around Kimimaro to constrict to breaking point, the air in his lungs to evaporate, the ground beneath his feet to swallow him up and the water she had summoned and was now gently trickling below his feet to crush him. She watched in satisfaction, as everything slowed right down, and all that she had ordered happened and Kimimaro disappeared below the ground, the rope around her slackened and she was able to breathe freely again and she heard enthusiastic cheering from the stands.

She smiled proudly over at the pale skinned man who was beaming at her with his permanent sinister frown, sure now that her position of main favourite was safe. She moved as though in slow motion, tweezing herself out of the newly slack rope of bone which fell to the ground with a small clatter, stepped over them and started making her way unhurriedly over to her proud sensei who was welcoming her with open arms. Suddenly from below her, the arrow like end of Kimimaro's spear surged making the young girl leap back in fright, before jabbing out at her and stabbing her in the stomach, just below where her top finished.

'Mika!' cried Orochimaru in mild surprise as she fell to her knees, clutching her wound which was bleeding freely and ripping the bone out of her soft flesh, before bending double over the wound.

She growled out in pain as she suddenly felt electricity coursing through her being, she opened her eyes and saw a faintly yellow light flashing around her and sending sparks in different directions. She noticed that she was still grasping the end of Kimimaro's spear which had stabbed her, and cried out in anger and pain, roaring at the piece of bone in her hand and watching in mild curiosity as an electric shock wave seemed to shoot out of her hand which was clutching the bone and down the spear, into the earth where it disappeared down the hole Kimimaro's bone had created. She could vaguely hear shouting from behind her and in front of her as she screwed her eyes up against the pain, not really caring what was happening to her, just wishing the pain would go away.

'Mika, listen to me!' came Orochimaru's firm voice away to her right. She opened her eyes a fraction and looked over towards where his voice had come from, searching for his familiar face during this unfamiliar experience and saw his firm face watching her steadily. 'Current your energy into your wound.' he commanded her forcefully, in a determined voice which told her that he knew what to do. She growled in pain again and did what he told her, trying to force her energy to go towards the deep wound which was still bleeding freely and stinging like hell. She could feel the shocks every now and then but nothing like what she knew she was supposed to be doing, she screwed up her face against the pain and against the concentration as she tried again. This time she screamed out in agony as the electricity stabbed at the wound like a thousand white hot blades all at once, all in the same place, twisting inside the wound as though trying to force it even wider open. 'Keep going.' came his encouraging voice as she continued to scream, the tears pouring out of her eyes before sizzling in the heat and the electricity around her, 'I will tell you when to stop.' he told her, his voice faint against the sounds of her anguished screams and the loud crackling of the electricity on her skin, in her hair, around her entire body… all accumulating around the small circular stab wound in her stomach. It seemed like and eternity, as though the pain would never end, as though she was going to die of the pain but finally she heard his voice again, calmer this time. 'You may stop now.'

She let the energy fade away in an instant and lay back down on the cool earth, panting heavily as she tried to regain control over her shaking body, she could see shapes moving around her and unfamiliar faces flashing before her. Her head was killing her, it was as though a clamp was being slowly tightened on her skull, gradually constricting her brain more and more, her stomach was throbbing where her wound was and where the electricity had been hitting her. She didn't know she could do that… had Yama been able to do that? Did Orochimaru know she could do that? The question floated in and out of her mind as she fought to keep her eyes open while they slowly tried to roll back into the back of her head.

'Go to sleep, Mika.' came Kabuto's soothing voice from her left, she tried to see what his expression was to try and get an idea of what might be going on, but her vision was painfully blurred so she gave up and closed her eyes.


	20. frustration

'Come ON!' shouted Sasuke frustrated, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists furiously as he waited for the rest of the rescue team to get ready. It had been ten days now since Mika had been taken away, and six since the Hokage had said that someone should go and fetch her back… and everyday Sasuke had been pressurizing them all to get their asses off their seats and do something. But it had still taken nearly a week to prepare, and that fact almost killed the young Uchiha boy.

'Yes, alright Sasuke.' said Kakashi calmly, trying desperately to sooth the fiery young man who was so frantic to get his childhood sweetheart. 'The ANBU squad needs time to get everything ready-'

'IT'S BEEN NEARLY A WEEK!!!' he bellowed at the silver haired man furiously, his eyes wide with anger. At that moment the leader of Anbu squad three walked in, followed by the other two members. The leader had a bird mask and his fair hair flopped out at the sides, the second had an ox mask and his hair stuck out at odd angles, making him look particularly stupid, but the last of the squad had a cat mask and her long blond hair fell elegantly out at the back.

'Calm down young man.' she said with a small giggle as she walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder while he scowled up at her. 'We're ready to go now.'

'Good, then let's go already!' exclaimed Naruto who had been sitting in the corner and almost falling asleep, now he was bouncing up and down excitedly. 'Come on, come on, come on I'm so ready! Believe it!' he punched the air energetically as Sasuke swiftly picked up his backpack and Kakashi swung his over his shoulder.

'Do we know where Orochimaru's latest lair is?' asked Sakura sceptically appearing from out of the shadows, her pink rucksack elegantly placed in the crook between her shoulder blades. 'I mean otherwise we could be searching in vain for weeks.' she added matter-of-factly.

'At least we'll be DOING something.' said Sasuke venomously as he made his way to the door resolutely. 'Come on, move your asses.' Kakashi chuckled at his disrespect of the Anbus imagining their looks of disdain under the masks, he caught the woman's eye and noticed that she was also grinning.

'Not so fast Uchiha.' came the second Anbu's gruff voice, he was crouching in one of the few chairs in the small room scribbling on a piece of parchment frenetically. 'Your little friend is right: we don't know where Orochimaru is.'

'Actually I believe I heard someone saying that it was on the edge of the Waterfall country.' interrupted the woman Anbu tilting her head slightly to the left as she said it, clearly adopting a coy expression underneath the mask. 'Somewhere between their Village and our border.' she added into the stunned silence which had snuck up on the small group.

'Well then _let's go_.' said Sasuke forcefully, heading towards the door with a look which simply screamed what he was saying.

'We can't go yet Sasuke.' said Kakashi suddenly noticing the lack of annoying feuds. 'We're missing one of the team and you know how I feel about leaving team-members behind.' he glanced at the female Anbu to see if she was looking at him but she was too busy inspecting her left glove which seemed to have a scratch.

'You won't have to worry.' came a deep voice from the doorway, everyone turned around to look and saw Gai standing there in a very unorthodox pose: his legs separated, one hand in the air while he made a circle round his eye with his index and thumb on the other hand. 'Gai is here!'

'LET'S _GO_ THEN!!!' shouted Sasuke in complete frustration, completely destroying Gai's entrance in a single motion and leaving the dark haired man with a confounded expression.

'Nice one Gai.' said Kakashi as they all started walking towards the door, smiling to himself underneath his own mask relishing the feeling of victory that it gave him.

'Oooh… you win this time Kakashi…' he muttered furiously at the back of the group, glowering at the back of his rival's head. 'But next time… next time I will get you…' Kakashi didn't notice… then again he never really did.


	21. excitement for the snake man

Orochimaru glanced over at the door where someone had just appeared, his ever present frown on his pale forehead as he took in the silhouette watching him silently. The small figure swayed a little, rearranging her weight onto the other hip as she watched her sensei, her long hair completely still in the silence.

'Mika?' he asked a little curious smile appearing on his pitiless face. She raised her left eyebrow and smiled at the older man mischievously but said nothing, giving off the telltale signs of something not human. 'I know this is a clone. You haven't been out of your room for three days, my dear.' he added turning back to the scroll he was inspecting, leaving the clone with an incredulous expression on her perfectly identical to the real Mika.

'Come to my room.' she said firmly , scowling at the pale man in front of her rebelliously. 'I want to talk to you.' Orochimaru looked back over at the young clone, whereupon the figure of the young girl evaporated into the air leaving a small pile of earth at her feet which had previously been used to create her.

'I take it you're feeling better then.' he muttered darkly, turning back to his scroll and wrapping it up again before leaving the room in a few swift strides. After the fight between Kimimaro and Mika both opponents had been badly wounded and confined to their beds, but it seemed the Mika had recovered enough to create a clone with at least one of her powers whereas Kimimaro was still in a minor coma. But the stab wound in Mika's upper stomach wasn't going to go away any time soon, yes it had been helped along by the electricity but it was nowhere near completely healed and the scar was going to stay with the girl for the rest of her life.

He knocked softly on the girls dark door which had previously been a pale brown, waited a moment for her to prepare herself and entered. As he expected she was sitting up in her bed, her pale face completely neutral in the way he had shown her, gazing at him intently as he made his way towards her. The burning mark just below the frills of her top looked particularly painful and was clearly not very comfortable for her because every time she moved she did so gingerly.

'You wanted to see me?' he said smoothly hiding a smile of pride from her as he stood at the foot of her bed, holding the curtain out of the way as they gazed into each others eyes; pride into resentment.

'Did you like my clone?' she asked happily, obviously trying desperately to hide her intense pride and delight… and failing miserably, but for some reason she was endearing to the cold hearted man. 'I did that on my own, without your help.' she was clearly overjoyed at what she had managed to push her powers into doing, despite the obvious flaw which she hadn't noticed.

'Very good.' answered Orochimaru with a proud smile on his chalky face. He didn't know why he was so proud of the young girl, he had had students previously and hadn't been this proud of them even when they accomplished much more important things. 'And in this state! That must have been exhausting.'

'I did it without chakra!' she replied happily, this time her delight was unmistakable as her young and pale face broke into a large grin, her deep hazel eyes beaming up at her sensei who's eyes had also widened in surprise.

'Without chakra?' he repeated, completely blown away by this statement. The girl nodded enthusiastically up at him, her expression that of complete delight. His mind began to spin… she had created an almost perfect clone of herself without the use of chakra… it could speak and move of it's own accord… the possibilities were almost endless- No! They were endless! This girl could do anything she wanted! She could create clones without chakra, therefore save the valuable energy for more complicated jutsus… she needn't even fight if she didn't want to! She could stand on the top of a hill and watch her clones fighting her battles for her, and her chakra would be completely intact… not to mention what she could do _without_ forcing the elements into images of herself… or other things! She could make an earthy replica of almost anything…

'Orochimaru?' came the girl's uncertain voice as though from miles away, curious as to what was going through her sensei's mind. He was curious himself as to how far she could push her power, how much she could actually do. 'What's wrong?' she asked suspiciously, narrowing her deep hazel eyes as she watched his eyes focus on her pretty yet slightly bruised face again.

'You… ah… you must-must stay in bed…' he said quickly, trying to contain his excitement as he glanced back and forth just to be moving. She didn't seem convinced. 'So as to recover faster, my dear! We must continue your training!' She accepted that and lay back down on her large pillow, wincing a little at the pain of her chest wound and giving Orochimaru a sudden urge to hold her against him which disconcerted him greatly. Her expression was so innocent, like a kitten mewing piteously as it has a jab: not understanding why it was going through this pain… not knowing that it was for the best and that it would make it stronger. 'Sleep well my Darling.' he whispered as he bent over at the girl's head, watching her gingerly pull the quilt up over her chest and taking care not to brush her wound. She glanced up at him and their noses brushed delicately, giving both a strong shiver down their backbones and making the snake-like man pull away abruptly and made his way out of the room, closing the door delicately behind him.

She hadn't objected.


	22. Pein and rage

'Uchiha Itachi.' came the deep ominous voice from the shadows in front of the small group of elite ninja who not many shinobi would defy. 'Remind me what you said the girl was.' there was a long and uncomfortable silence which was broken only by the deep and angry breathing of the mysterious leader of the Akatsuki. Everyone was aware of what the young man had told his leader, they were all aware that he was furious.

'I believe I said that the girl was…' there was a pause while Itachi tried to remember what he had said, it was a fair amount of time ago after all and they had done other things in the meantime. 'whiter than white.' he finished finally gazing up at the other man darkly, as though challenging him to be angry.

'You also said that she would never consent to leaving the Village, even turning against it.' continued the first man as soon as the second had finished his sentence, as though he couldn't keep it in. 'And yet she seems to have turned her allegiance to Orochimaru.' One of the other members growled, but the first man ignored him. 'and now she is faithful to him, which as you may have noticed is almost worse!' the sentence had started quietly, but by the end the man was shouting furiously at his subordinate as though it was a young child who had been naughty. He took a deep calming breath before continuing. 'No matter. We shall continue our quest the way we were before we became aware of her existence. As though she doesn't exist. Understood?' there was a murmur of agreement and the members of the elite group began to disperse, all perfectly conscious that their leader was watching them and none so closely as the young man who had once been betrothed to the girl they had been talking about.

**I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my faithful reader Lonely-Kitty who seems to have disappeared off of the face of the earth! (**

**I miss you! hugs**

**Thanks to all the other readers as well! Please review if you liked it! or if you didn't... constructive critisism very welcome!**

**P.S: yes I do know Mika has become a bit on the bitch side. T.T Sorry bout that.**


	23. see me

The next few days passed agonisingly slowly for Mika who, once she was able to get up properly, hadn't been allowed to sit down again because Orochimaru was so busy training her and seeing just how far her powers could stretch. But by the fourth day the young girl was exhausted and exasperated by how her sensei was treating her.

'LOOK AT ME!!!' she bellowed at him from her position in amongst the extremely full thicket she had summoned moments before and finally letting her anger and frustration get the better of her. The older man's grin lessened a little as he gazed through the thick branches at what he could see of the girl's flushed face, glaring back at him.

'I am my darling-'

'NO YOU'RE NOT!!!' she continued furiously, her hands balled into livid fists and her young cheeks. 'YOU'RE ONLY LOOKING AT MY POWERS!!!' suddenly the pale man understood what she was on about: the insecure teenager was resurfacing again out of the girl's heaving chest, her face unscrewed now and watching him with agonising rejection. 'Ever since I was able to do that clone you haven't seen me… you've only seen my powers…' she continued in a small timid voice, their eyes locked through the leaves, thorns and branches. 'You don't see me.'

From the side of the room Kabuto looked on unenthusiastically. He had been taking notes on the girls technique but now that they had stopped and were talking he had nothing to do but listen in and watch his lord's reaction to the insolent young girl with such power. He sighed uninterestedly as the vegetation which had been filling the room slowly receded, leaving nothing but empty space between the two powerful shinobi gazing steadily at each other; so different and yet strangely alike in a way which the young man couldn't really place. He knew how the girl was feeling: this was usually how Orochimaru reacted when he realised his student was more powerful than he had previously thought, but she was the first to react to it.

'Mika Tikaake.' came his smooth, debonair voice through the empty silence in the large room, slicing it as though it was some sort of jelly. Kabuto wondered whether he should be taking notes or not; he decided against it. 'You may not be aware of this yet, because you are still learning and there is still much to learn. But if I could teach you one thing, then it would be this.' there was a long pause as the two gazed at each other before the pale man began to make his way deliberately towards the young shinobi who's expression was softening with every step he took. When he was less than a foot away from her he spoke, so quietly Kabuto almost didn't hear. 'With these powers, you can do anything.'

The young man with the silver hair watched as the girl's eyelids became heavy and her lips parted, inviting her sensei to do what he clearly wanted to. The Sannin leaned forwards, delicately placing his practiced hands in the small of her back so as to support her, before lowering his face to hers with a look of ecstatic rapture which was mirrored in her face. Kabuto watched as Mika's knees gave way and Orochimaru tightened his grip around her waist so as to hold her up to him, pressing her small and innocent frame up against his, her limp arms gripping his sleeves for reassurance and security. He wondered how the girl could possibly let him do this to her when she loathed him so passionately… or maybe her abhorrence for the man was just a show she put on, trying to look as though she didn't want to be here, as though she was a captive. That would explain why she didn't just leave.

He noticed the two part lips and gaze into each others eyes dreamily, as though they were both half awake and half asleep. He took his note pad up again, ready to start taking notes again but they didn't speak, he watched in discomfort as the Sannin's long tongue slowly snaked out of his mouth and delicately passed over the girl's chest and down her stomach, making her let her head roll back and moan quietly. Kabuto swiftly decided that now was the right time to leave, and hastily made his way to the door and out into the cool breeze.

'The snake man can get women, but I can't.' he muttered to himself as he made his was along the outside corridor of the mansion and towards his rooms. 'Not only women, but _girls_!' he added heatedly, his eyes widening behind his glasses for a moment to emphasise his feelings. 'Maybe I should become more snake-like.' he said to himself with a small smile.


	24. wishful seeing?

Sasuke growled to himself in frustration as the rest of the rescue team finished setting up the camp for the night and started making supper. If it had been up to him they'd still be running, getting ever closer to Mika. But as it was they had to stop because the ANBU team said they needed to keep their strength up… plus Naruto had been complaining about his empty tummy.

The passionate young ninja glowered at the other shinobi around the fire: Kakashi and that blond Anbu were talking side by side while Guy tried desperately to join in, the other two guys from Anbu squad three were talking to Naruto and Sakura had slunk off into the girls tent. He looked over at the dark woods surrounding their camp, wishing he was speeding through them as fast as his legs would carry him, leading him closer to the girl he loved. He discreetly got to his feet and left the campsite, letting the thick darkness sweep over him and draw him closer to the large tree trunks. He was remembering the first time he and Mika had kissed, their uncertainties as they looked at each other over their touching lips, her deep brown eyes disappearing underneath her eyelids as she let her doubts go. He sniffed. He missed her so much, he desperately hoped she was alright and yet a small part of him kept on reminding him of their last meeting: her expression, her words… her last sentence. "I love you Sasuke."

'Then why did you go?' he asked aloud in the darkness of the woods he had wandered into while he had been reliving their last moments. He felt close to tears, but somehow he knew he couldn't let himself go. He sniffed again and let his eyes fall to the leafy floor beneath his feet, the different shades of gold and brown and yellow blending together to make a glorious autumn blanket.

'Because I had to.' came a tiny voice, so quiet it could have been the wind through the leaves but it still made Sasuke's head snap up and his dark eyes strain as he searched the trees around him, longing to find her standing there. As though to answer his longings a figure appeared between two huge oak trees, one hand stroking the tree beside her, the other hanging elegantly by her side. But Mika didn't look like the Mika Sasuke knew and adored: she had pearly white skin and ebony tear stains running down both her cheeks, her Tikaake outfit was black instead of deep red and she had what looked like a rose tattooed on the right hand side of her pelvis. She also looked as though she had lost some weight and it didn't really suit her, it made her look like a ghostly skeleton.

'Mika?' whispered the young Uchiha boy, frowning at the girl he had known so well but who had changed so much in so little time. 'What happened to you? Why are you here? Are you coming home?' she smiled unhappily at him as she took a few steps closer to him, her skirt and dark hair fluttering in a non-existent breeze. As she came closer it felt as though a strange whisper of wind was caressing him adoringly, it wasn't cold but it was definitely a tiny breeze. 'Are you a ghost?' he whispered painfully, his throat constricting uncomfortably as the thought sunk in.

'I'm not dead.' she giggled as though his terror was endearing, her once pretty face breaking into a wide smile which actually looked like her for the first time that evening. 'But I suppose "ghost" is a good word for what I am.' As she made her way towards him Sasuke noticed that she didn't look completely solid, as though she was a mix between smoke and water.

She was now about a yard from him and Sasuke could see the sad look in her deep brown eyes, as though she was wishing for something but knew that she couldn't have it. She took another step forwards, bringing them to within touching distance, and held out her hand and slowly lifted it up to delicately brush against his arm. It felt as though a very light fabric was sweeping across his skin, there but not quite solid… like a tiny breeze which was only touching that area.

'Don't come and get me.' she whispered softly, her voice sounding pulled as though she was fighting back the tears without much luck. 'You'll just get hurt…' she continued after a pause. Somehow they had got a lot closer… maybe he had stepped forwards… maybe she had, but somehow their faces were almost touching and her hands were now on either side of his face, the sensation of a cool breeze against his skin making the tiny hairs on the back of his neck tingle deliciously.

'But-'

'Please…' she said across him, as though she couldn't bear to argue with him, he looked up to her eyes and saw that wispy tears were leaking delicately out and disappearing into thin air as they slipped off her cheekbone. 'I don't want to hurt you… I'm dangerous.'

'I don't care.' he answered before she could cut across him, fighting back his own tears as their eyes met in a moment of complete agony and yet utter delight. 'I'd do anything for you… I'd go through anything just to feel the touch of your lips on mine.' He tried to wrap his arms around her but somehow they simply passed through her like smoke.

'Please-' Mika sobbed quietly, her voice sounding more and more like a strange echo. 'Don't do this…' she lifted her face up a little so that their eyes and their lips were level. 'Please, go home… find someone else… someone who isn't going to hurt you-'

'I don't want someone else.' he replied firmly, although he wasn't feeling firm at all… he was certain his knees were about to buckle. 'I need you.' She lifted her teary eyes to his, looking deep into his soul… seeing his sincerity, but he couldn't see her… It was as though she wasn't actually there. She brought her face closer to his, her lips closer to his, her eyes closing elegantly as she was about to kiss him, but he kept his own eyes open.

Just when their lips should have touched a warm breeze blew over his face, swirling in the air around him and making his dark hair flutter over his face. His chest was heaving painfully as he looked around at the trees surrounding him, searching for her face… searching for proof that this wasn't just a dream.

'Sasuke?' came a familiar female voice behind him. He whipped around hoping to see Mika's face completely back to normal with a small perplexed expression in her deep hazel eyes and a small forgiving smile on her perfect lips… but it was Sakura. 'Are you alright Sasuke?' she asked tenderly playing with her fingers insecurely, her expression that of shy concern.

Sasuke grunted as he tried to hide the tears which he had leaked out of his dark eyes at his disappointment. He bustled past her with his eyes low, heading for the tent he and Naruto were to sleep in and where he could think over what had just happened. He decided not to tell anyone.


	25. where does your loyalty lie?

'My dear you don't seem completely here.' came Orochimaru's voice from what sounded like miles away. Mika looked up at him, tearing her eyes away from the dirty floor she was standing on to fix on the older man's pale face as he watched her steadily. She knew he was right; he knew he was right. There was no reason to deny it. 'You must concentrate.'

'Why?' she asked indifferently, staring at him blankly across the wide expanse of nothing between them where the young girl had just created a large rift in the earth. 'I can beat you without trying.' There was a pause. Mika knew that her new sensei was very sensitive about that fact, and that was the main reason she continued reminding him.

'Your technique is still quite disorganized.' he never failed to remind her, not that she really cared any more, but he wasn't to know that. There was another long pause during which Mika's deep hazel eyes fell to the ground again unhappily. 'You are miserable? Do you not appreciate my mansion?' he asked quietly, watching for a reaction from the girl he had been training for the past few weeks.

The next thing he knew a thick root had entwined itself around his neck and crashed him against the wall behind him, slowly constricting around his throat and cutting off his breathing. Through his watering eyes he watched Mika float towards him, her long hair and skirt fluttering in the wind which was gracefully carrying her towards him, her young face was livid.

'Yes, I am miserable.' she spat at him when she got to within touching distance, a strange fire burning in her stunning eyes as she glared menacingly at him. 'And no, I don't appreciate your stupid mansion, because it sucks!' Orochimaru glared back at her rebelliously even though he was painfully aware of her power over him: he had been caught off-guard.

'Release me.' he said quietly, trying to sound threatening through his discomfort.

'Give me one good reason why I should?' asked the girl darkly, narrowing her eyes in dislike as she came ever closer to him. There was another long pause while the sannin decided on a reason which would force her to let him go, and make her feel bad about herself too.

'Because you came to me.'

'You tricked me!' she snapped back at him, the fire in her soul seemed to roar harder than ever as her fury grew. 'I wouldn't have come if-'

'If the Village hadn't hated you?' he cut in quickly, trying to sound as silky as possible against the ever tightening root. 'If Sasuke had paid more attention to you?' She didn't answer as her eyes darted from his left eye to his right nervously, her lips softening inconspicuously. He pulled the slackened root away from his throat, his eyes still glued to hers as he found his foothold on the solid floor. 'You selfish girl.'

'You can talk.' she spat back at him, poison etched in every fibre of her being.

'At least I know I am.' he replied in a whisper, smiling dangerously at the defiant girl. 'You seem to think you are little miss perfect, you're the victim in this whole story. You seem to have the impression that you are the only person who's had wrong done to them.' He could feel the hate and contempt she held him in floating in the thick air around them, as though it was discreetly trying to throttle him, trying to make him give in.

'At least I feel.' she said at length, her voice sounded pulled again as though she was fighting against invisible tears. They stared at each other for a moment more before she turned on her heel and stormed out, her long hair shimmering behind her as she walked and disappeared through the side door which led to her room.

'_At least I feel_.' repeated Orochimaru, feeling the words roll off the end of his tongue and catching slightly on the edge of his cold lips. There was that unfortunate doubtful sensation which she so often gave him and which he really hated. He looked over at the eastern wall, feeling the presence of unfamiliar shinobi not far away… he would have to leave so as not to be found. He couldn't rely on Mika to battle against Leaf shinobi… he couldn't count on Mika to do anything for him at the moment. He would have to win her around. He took a deep calming breath and strode off towards the door the young girl had just left out of, with every intention of winning the girl's loyalty back.

**Sorry it's so short! I've kinda got a bit of ze writers block of doom!!! I should get over it soon though! Thanks for reading, and reviewing is always appreciated! **

**Big shout out to my dear Lonely-Kitty!!!**


	26. so close apart

'We're nearing his mansion…' whispered the larger of the two male shinobi in the Anbu squad three, glancing over his shoulder at the rest of the small rescue party he was leading through the undergrowth. 'Stay low.' he added seeing the little blond kid straining his neck to see the huge house in the distance. Naruto glared at him and crouched down again.

'He can't see me, I'm a master of disguise! Believe it!' he said in a low growl, his young raspy voice cutting through the silence around them and making all the shinobi feel insecure.

'Right,' started the man again, glancing back at the mansion and then back at his team. 'Tiger, you take Kakashi and Sasuke, Ox you take Gai and the girl, and I'll take the blond kid.' he said firmly, pointing at each person in turn and nodding when he finished, satisfied of his decision.

'Right you are chicken.' came the young woman's voice from behind her tiger mask, a grin in her slightly muffled voice as she watched his frustrated reaction.

'This is no time to be messing around, Tiger.' he whispered dangerously, the intense dislike audible in his deep voice. 'And it's a rooster, not a chicken.' The blond woman snickered discreetly as the leader looked back at the house, taking in every detail of it. 'Tiger you take your bunch round to the left of the mansion;' the woman nodded sombrely. 'Ox… take yours round the right… I think there's a window you can get into, if not there's sure to be a skylight in the roof on that side; and I'll go round to the front-'

'I think they've left, actually.' came the second man's voice as he strained his neck discreetly to inspect the house himself. The rest of the team did the same and after a moment both Kakashi and Gai nodded agreement. 'None of the windows are open, and if you look around the side a little you can see where someone has tried to cover up their footsteps.'

'Well seen, Ox.' admitted the leader nodding proudly at his understudy. 'Right, well we'll all go to where I told you to and see what we can find… try and pick up their scent and then we'll make camp-'

'WHAT???' snapped Sasuke furiously, glaring daggers at the man with the rooster mask. 'We can't set up camp yet! We're so close! They can't have left long ago otherwise they'd have taken more care to cover up their tracks! They must have left in a hurry to leave something that obvious!' he finished, panting slightly with anger as he glowered at each Anbu in succession.

'Don't look at me!' said the blond woman, lifting her hands up in defeat. 'I wanted to keep going!'

'Tiger, shut up!' snapped the Anbu leader. There was a pause while he worked out what to do next; the light was going to start fading imminently, but the boy had a point. Keep going through the night, or let the trail go cold? 'Fine.' he conceded after a long pause. 'If the track is obvious we'll follow it. If not, we'll settle down for the night.' Everyone seemed okay with that, so he sent them all on their way and sprang off with the small blond kid in tow.

'Where are all your other _favourites_?' asked Mika as she ran alongside the tall snake-like man, gazing up at him curiously through her deep brown eyes. He glanced back down at her with a small smile before answering.

'They'll find their own way.' he answered smoothly, staring straight in front of him as they leapt from tree to tree. 'I send them off in a different direction so as to hide our own trail.' Mika bit her bottom lip nervously: Sasuke hadn't listened to her… he was still coming to get her. 'Your mind is still on other things, my Darling?'

'No.' she answered firmly, trying to convince herself as much as him. 'I was simply wondering where you are taking me.' she said glancing up at him with heavy eyelids, trying to seem sensuous and feeling terribly stupid as she did so… but it seemed to work. Orochimaru came to a halt one branch before Mika who stopped in a crouching position, her long skirt falling between her bent knees, her eyes on him.

'Do you fear for your safety?' he asked with a sinisterly romantic smile. He took a step forwards and was on the same branch as the girl who got to her feet, never taking her eyes off his until she was standing straight when she let them drop down his chest before returning them to his.

'Should I?' she asked quietly, trying to ignore Kabuto tapping his foot on the branch below them.

'Never.' Orochimaru smiled sinfully down at her and placed his left hand in the small of her back, pulling her small frame towards him again in that ever familiar smooth movement which never failed to take her by surprise. As expected, her eyelids and breathing became heavy, her knees became weak and that feeling of lust and adoration came over her small body. Their faces were nearing again, lips slightly parted, breathing heavily as they always did when they knew what awaited them-

'Ahem.' came Kabuto's faint voice like a slap in the face with a wet fish. (**I can actually imagine that! XD**) The sannin closed his eyes, trying to control his disappointed rage before letting the girl go and letting her regain control over her own body. 'We should be getting on, or they might catch up to us.' Orochimaru glowered at him threateningly but said nothing, instead opting to just set off in the direction they had already been heading leaving Mika and Kabuto alone together. She scowled at him.

'That was the whole point.' she snapped poisonously, a look of utter contempt and mild disgust on her once pretty face. 'Retard.' she finished before leaping off after her sensei, leaving the young man bewildered and befuddled.


	27. you are expected

'We'll be staying… _here_?' asked the young girl looking around with a faintly distasteful expression, her lip curled slightly as she took in her surroundings.

'This is by far the safest place for us to set ourselves up:' came Kabuto's voice to answer her, 'there's only one opening so we'll be able to intercept the intruders, there's what looks like a pedestal… I thought you'd appreciate that Lord Orochimaru.' he added, glancing at the older man like a child looking for recognition. Mika smirked at his neediness.

'Nice touch.' came Orochimaru's slippery voice, making her growl at Kabuto's smug expression. 'I like the pillars.' he added, also looking around.

'Pfft…' interrupted the girl, miffed. 'it's just more places for them to hide.' she pointed out, folding her arms defiantly; trying to outdo the other subordinate.

'Ah, but you my dear… you don't need to see people to know they're there.' answered the snake-like man turning to smile at her appealingly. 'Do you?' he asked, knowing the answer. Mika raised her eyebrow to him and mirrored his smile. 'Now… we must prepare for their arrival.'

'What… they're still coming?' Mika asked, her eyes widening in surprise. 'But… the other favourites? We escaped them, didn't we?'

'Well, we pretended to evade them.' answered Orochimaru with a dangerous smirk, followed by a dark chuckle. Mika failed to hide a gasp of horror as her mind raced at the thought of the danger Sasuke was letting himself in for. 'I wish to see you my dear, faced against the other young shinobi I have in my view.'

'You want me to fight… Sasuke?' she stammered nervously, suddenly reminded of the dangerously eccentric manner she was dealing with.

'Of course.' he answered as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. 'I'm interested to see how the Sharingan will do against what I have taught you. I know that in a match where neither of you have any specialities then he would win easily, but I don't think anyone can guess the outcome of this match.'

'That's not fair!!' cried Mika, losing her cool completely. 'It won't be a fair fight because there will be Naruto and Kakashi helping him!! Not to mention the fact that I love him!!' she fell silent as she realised what had passed her lips. She looked up at Orochimaru apprehensively.

Orochimaru's face was blank with just a hint of curiosity as he stared back at the girl in front of him. Mika's chest was heaving with emotion at the thought of having to fight her beloved, and the Sannin's mind was racing: this was yet another delicious twist to the already very interesting fight which was to come. He smiled at the prospect and went back to checking out the cave they had chosen.

'Sasuke…' whispered the girl in despair. '…please don't come and rescue me…' she closed her eyes and let her shoulders slump.

'Okay, we found their trail… so let's go already!' yelled the fiery Uchiha boy, his hands balled into fists as he tried to make the stubborn adults hurry.

'These things take time, Sasuke.' answered Kakashi tiredly, putting a soothing hand on the boy's shoulder. 'We mustn't just rush into them like a bull in a china shop.' he looked over at the group of ANBU who had taken themselves off a couple of yards to work out what to do next.

'But we shouldn't have to wait this long if we've got them in our sights.' said Gai in a whisper to his friend and rival. 'We should move now. They'll be expecting us to take our time.'

'So come on!!' cried Naruto excitedly, grinning at the idea of getting Mika back so quickly and with so little problems.

'We have decided to go ahead.' said the female ANBU, walking back to them and putting one of her hands on her hip. 'But you'd better be prepared for a fight. It seems they want us to find them.' Naruto's jaw dropped.

'They _want_ us to find them?' he asked at the top of his voice, his eyes wide and his jaw slack.

_It would make sense actually… _thought Kakashi, blocking out the sound of Naruto ranting on, _Orochimaru will want to see Mika and Sasuke against each other. It's obvious._ He looked over at the dark haired boy who was getting more and more wound up. Sasuke would never fight Mika. Would Mika not give him a choice?

'Well stop ranting on!' exclaimed the smaller of the two ANBU men to Naruto. 'Let's just get going shall we??' and with that the small group of shinobi set off along the trail which led towards Orochimaru, a big fight and more importantly: Mika.


End file.
